Black Hole
by FloppyEvil
Summary: Book 1 of the Doombringer trilogy; The Irken Fleet is on its way to earth, Can Dib and Gaz convince Zim to help them save the earth? ZAGR, Rated M for language and Adult Themes/content/Gore. Read, Review, Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't normally write fan fiction, actually I don't normally write at all. These characters are not mine; I claim nothing but the twisted inspiration for this tale.

These events take place years after the end of the series. As I am not the creator I consider them completely OOC.

-Prologue-

Dib doodled lightly in his note book, sitting through another boring lecture in his Cultural Awareness class. He was wearing his customary black trench coat with simple black trousers and an E.T. T-shirt, all of which hung loose on his thin frame. His hair was longer than usual hanging down to his nose and it had a bad habit of falling behind his thick black glasses. He sighed heavily, brushing some hair from his eyes, Miss Hornsby had an annoying tendency to drone off topic for most of her lecture period. Ever since he started college two years ago he had classes like this. Required for his degree in Astrophysics, they had nothing to do with his higher education. Suffering through them so he wouldn't have to repeat in later years was his only real option. He finished his hundredth sketch, examining the tiny rocket he'd drawn. Ever since he was little he had been fascinated by the unknown. But then his whole life had changed, he met his first alien. Zim, they had battled when he was younger. For almost two years he had stopped Zim from taking over the earth, until the fateful day they had moved.

He originally expected it to be mere weeks before Zim was in the papers leading an armada against the earth. But nothing had happened, it had been years since then and still not a peep. He guessed his little sister Gaz had been right about Zim, far too stupid to be any real threat to the earth. But seeing the alien had driven Dib to advance his studies into space. Now he knew that there was other life out there and he had to do something to prepare the earth. Not all intelligent life would be as harmless as Zim.

Dib glanced around as the other students began grabbing their bags and getting up. Realizing he had spaced out once again he gathered his things and wandered out onto the campus. He was living in Los Angeles now, a drastic difference from his home town. His dad had gotten a job offer from a major research center out here so they had been uprooted. Gaz never really fit in even back home, but it had gotten worse. She had become more and more aggressive, getting sent home for beating other students and fighting with teachers. If the principle hadn't been quite so scared of her she probably would have been expelled. At first Dib had wanted to help but he never really knew how to relate to Gaz, she was always a mystery to him. Dib found a stone bench near the school park and took a seat.

He pulled out his notebook to try and study some of the material from class, but realized the only thing he had done was doodle. Silently berating himself he tossed the notebook back into his pack. Taking a minute to watch the other students as they passed he couldn't help slipping back into his memories. It had almost been three years now since father had passed away. Dib remembered that night vividly, it had been storming all day so he and Gaz were chilling in their rooms. When there came a strong knock at the front door, he even remembered that it felt wrong. Gaz had come out of her room no game slave to be seen and a strange look on her face. Dib answered the front door, a man in a fitted black suit was standing there holding a simple note out for dib to take. Once he grabbed it the man turned around and walked to his car. Dib remembered being puzzled at the strange behavior.

Gaz had spoken softly, almost too soft for him to hear "what does it say?" that was when he read that awful note.

_**Dear Mr/Ms Membrane,**_

_**We regret to inform you that Professor Membrane died today in a lab accident. You have our condolences, all arrangements for his funeral will be handled.**_

He had to read it several times before what it said actually registered with him. The rest of that night had blurred over time, he remembered crying and falling asleep at some point. But that note was burned forever into his memory. He never told Gaz, he couldn't speak at the time. She had just grabbed the paper from his hands. She never cried but he knew it had destroyed what was left of his little sister. After that day she rarely left the house and almost never went to school. While he tried his hardest to forget everything by immersing himself into his studies, she spiraled into a dark depression. A year later he moved out of their house and went off to college. He still visited ever chance he could, but she rarely spoke more than a few syllables to him. Over the years he kept trying to snap her out of it, enrolling her into programs and counseling's. She hated them all, and had let him feel her wrath each time. That was until he signed her up for a martial arts class. The prospect of hurting people physically had always appealed to her.

She had gone to the classes reluctantly at first but soon that became her life. She began using the inheritance that father had left her to sign up for every type of fighting she could. Dib was glad that she was getting out of her room but he wasn't quite sure that learning new ways of hurting people was really the best thing for his slightly psychotic sister. But he couldn't really argue with progress. Dib shook his head, too much thinking and too many memories. He stood up, slinging his pack over one shoulder, it was about time he went back to his dorm room. On the way there he passed the mail room, requesting any mail from the clerk he was handed a considerable pile. He ruffled through them as he climbed the stairs to his room, most of the letters were for his roommate but he saw one small envelope addressed to him. He got to the door and punched in his key code, stepping into the shared living room he tossed his pack onto the couch and his roommates mail onto the coffee table.

He investigated the strange small letter, it had no return address. He peeled it open to find a small folded note inside he read it once then had to go over it again to ensure he wasn't losing his mind.

_**They are coming.**_

_** Zim.**_

-End of Prologue-

-Chapter 1 Changes-

Gaz woke up to her alarm, exerting immense self control she slowly and deliberately grabbed the alarm and turned it off, setting it gently back onto the nightstand. Her first instinct was always to smash the damn alarm against the wall watching it shatter into hundreds of tiny pieces. But the temporary joy that would bring would be squashed later as she was forced to go purchase another and set it up all over again. She took a few deep breaths, her chest rising and falling gently under her shirt, before tossing the covers off and sliding out of bed. She glanced into the mirror, frowning slightly at the girl she saw staring back at her. She had always thought that once she turned eighteen she would change, she wasn't naive enough to think it would be something drastic. But she always hoped she might at least grow an inch or two. At five foot four she felt downright puny, even her pathetic older brother had made it to five foot ten.

She took some solace in the fact that her body may be small but her muscles were developing beautifully. Standing still you couldn't really tell the difference between her and an average young girl but once she flexed the clear lines of definition formed on her muscles, and her boobs were actually getting pretty big too. She tossed her shirt onto the floor with the rest of her dirty laundry. Walking over to her dresser she grabbed a clean set of underwear, her favorite set of matching skull bra and panties, before looking through her closet for something suitably dark and foreboding. She selected a simple black tank top and a short purple and black skirt with ripped fishnet leggings underneath and a short black leather jacket. Grabbing her black sneakers she went downstairs, rustling her hair to give it a slightly crazy look. She had discovered early that boys tend to stare at girls who care too much about their appearance and she had gotten into enough trouble hurting dumb little boys for staring too much.

So now she just looked a little insane and boys were usually far too freaked out to bother her. As far as she was concerned the less people bothered her, the better. She went into the kitchen, debating making breakfast until she remembered that it was after noon. She shrugged and grabbed some cold pizza from her fridge and wolfed it down on her way to the TV. She clicked it on just in time for her new favorite show, A Thousand ways to Die, to start. She never set her alarm for anything less than her shows or her fighting. She was a good ten minutes into the program when she heard an incessant banging on her door. Suppressing the urge to destroy whoever was on the other side she just turned up the volume on the TV. The banging continued, louder and faster with every passing moment, until she could stand it no more. Punching the power button on her television she stormed over to the front door, almost ripping it off of its hinges as she growled "What do you want."

Dib pushed right past her, not even noticing the waves of fury flowing out from her body. Dib began yelling frantically "You-need-to-pack-right-now-there-is-no-time-to-ex plain-all-i-know-is-that-something-bad-is-happenin g-soon-and-its-all-Zims-fault-" Her fist slammed into his chest, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him to the floor. Gaz's temples were throbbing as she tried to master her rage, her brother always brought out the worst in her.

Gaz "Calm the fuck down, and speak slowly before I break your damn skull dweeb."

Dib, tears streaming down his face, tried to stand as he wheezed in gulps of air. He tried to speak for several moments before giving up. He pulled a small note out of his pocket and handed it to Gaz. Her fury finally calming she grabbed the note and read it out loud "They are coming, Zim." She flipped it over looking for more writing her customary scowl never left her face as she asked "Is that it, what does it mean?"

Dib shook his head "I don't know. It just came in the mail yesterday, I told my teachers you became seriously ill and I had to leave. Gaz he must have called his people. The invasion is coming and Zim will destroy us all!" Gaz motioned as if to slap Dib, he cowered and shut up. She thought for a moment "there is no way that idiot could destroy us. This is just him trying to get back into your old games." She wasn't sure she believed what she said, but it seemed like a plausible explanation. She thought back to Zim, how stupid he had been with his obvious green skin and those weird teeth. Nobody could ever fall for his disguise, well at least nobody with a brain. She felt a strange sort of nostalgia thinking of Zim, it felt like better times, innocence and ignorance. She noticed Dib shaking in front of her, fear plastered on his face. She rubbed her temple with two fingers, tossing the paper onto the table. Gaz "Fine, what do you want to do about this dweeb."

Dib replied, shaking like a leaf, "We should go find some sort of old abandoned missile silo, stock it full of canned and freeze dried food. Then lock it and wait the invasion out." Gaz couldn't decide which infuriated her more, his ridiculous idea or his moronic smile. She grabbed him by the front of his jacket, pulling his face to within an inch of her own "If you ever utter anything that stupid again I will send you into oblivion. Now we are going to go over to Zim's place and you are going to ask him nicely what the Hell is going on." Dib tried to protest but Gaz just dragged him out the front door. She roughly slammed him into the passenger door of his geo metro and made her way to the driver's side. Looking pretty subdued Dib sat in the passenger seat of his own car rubbing his chin. Gaz cranked up some screaming punk rock on the radio as she prepared for the long drive to their old town.

Dib's face and chest were still sore almost two hours later when they arrived at their old neighborhood. Some of his discomfort was forgotten as they drove past familiar streets and shops. They came to their old street and Gaz seemed to slow as they drove past their old house. Dib saw most of his childhood flash before him as he passed the home of his youth. Memories both good and bad began running through his mind, most painful of which were the few times he spent quality time with his father. It was strange since he never spent much time with anyone in his family besides Gaz, and he wouldn't consider that quality time, but their absence seemed to leave a gaping hole in his life.

He was jarred from his reverie as Gaz slammed on the brakes, "were here numbnuts." Her flat tone let him know her displeasure with this whole chain of events. Dib stared at his feet as he exited the car and walked onto the sidewalk, stopping just short of running into Gaz. He risked a peek and saw her staring in surprise at the house in front of them. He turned and his jaw dropped. He quickly double checked the area and the address, verifying that both were right. This is where Zim's house was but the house before them was, for lack of a better word, nice. Around the yard was a black iron fence, the front gate was open, the grass was freshly cut and green with no lawn ornaments to be found. The house itself was painted a light shade of blue and was missing the tubes and wires connecting it to the neighboring structures.

Dib thought aloud "he must have moved too." Gaz shoved him forward growling "We are not leaving until you at least ask." Dib walked cautiously up to the front door, wincing at every imagined defense that could pop up, but nothing happened. He rang the doorbell, waiting apprehensively. For a few moments nothing happened and Dib relaxed a little. Then from inside they heard a strange sound, it started like a high pitched whine but soon became clear.

"Wheeeeeeeeeee!" something slammed into the door "Visitors!" now something was repeatedly slamming into the door from the other side. Dib thought that voice sounded familiar but couldn't quite place it, plus he was getting a little freaked out by the strange slamming.

"Gir, the door opens inwards. You can't open it that way." Dib recognized that voice at once, it was Zim, he squared off his stance getting ready to confront the alien and demand answers. Girs giggling became softer as Zim called after him "Gir where are you, oh damn it." The door handle turned and Dib held his breath. Dib thought he was ready but the figure that greeted him stunned him into complete silence. Standing at what must have been six feet was an apparently human male, with black hair cut short and disheveled he had blue eyes and pale skin. He was wearing black slacks and white sneakers with a tight fitting T-shirt showing his fairly athletic body. They stood there for several moments, Dib and Gaz staring in utter silence while Zim waited patiently in the doorway. Finally Zim spoke "what do you want Dib-stink."

That settled it, this was definitely Zim. Nobody else referred to him using that name, and the disdain with which he spat out the words was all too familiar. He tried to form the right words but all that managed to fumble out was "Zim? Is that you?" Zim shook his head muttering "humans" before turning around leaving the door open "you two can come in." They exchanged a look before Dib hurried inside and Gaz followed, the door closed automatically behind them. Dib tensed waiting for some sort of ambush but after several moments of nothing Gaz shoved him to the floor, walked over him and sat gingerly on the couch. As Dib rose dusting himself off Gaz began playing her game slave.

Dib looked to Zim who was smirking, still a little wary of Zim's new look Dib asked "if you're really Zim then you will take off that disguise." Zims smirk was quickly replaced by a grimace, Zim "I would rather not." Dib blinked "What? Why not?" he crossed his arms "so then you aren't really Zim. I know, you are one of those robots he used to use to fool adults at school." Dib walked up to the now suspected Zim-bot and began poking his body, looking for obvious robotic parts, Zim grabbed his forearm. Zim "do not touch me, Human. Fine if you are too stupid to recognize the mighty Zim I will drop the disguise." Zim released Dibs arm and Dib took a few steps back. Zim grabbed his watch, clicking a few buttons and a blue field shimmered around his body. Once it faded Dib was once more surprised by what he saw.

Zim was tall and built just like his 'human' disguise with his customary green skin and burning red eyes. But there were some noticeable differences, mainly the large scar on the left side of Zim's face. It appeared like a large beast had clawed Zims face, cutting from the middle of his forehead down to his jaw. Dib couldn't quite place what it was but something was very strange about the scar. That was when Dib noticed Zim's metal Pak was missing, Zib had definitely changed since the last time they met. Zim was wearing a skin tight suit with what looked like thin armor over his chest and shoulders, with gloves and boots made from a slightly thicker version of the same material. His outfit was black save for the armored or thicker sections which were a glossy red.

They stood there, across from each other for several moments before Gaz chimed in "Dweeb are you done oogling the alien, or did you not come here to find out whats happening with the whole earth invasion shit." She muttered something else under her breath but Dib didn't catch it, Zim on the other hand seemed to hear. It made him crack a small smile displaying some wicked looking fangs that Dib was pretty sure weren't there before. Dib "What the hell happened to you Zim? Or do all aliens turn in to scarred monsters after puberty?" Zim fixed him with a glare so full of hatred that dib was actually scared for a moment, Zim "your Ignorance no longer amuses me you lower life form. You will refrain from asking Zim such imbecilic questions from now on, or Zim will bring you to an early doom." For once Dib believed him and shut up.

Zim began to relax a bit once he saw that Dib had taken him seriously, much of the rage left his eyes and he sighed. Zim "I'm guessing you're here to find out why I sent the note?" Dib just nodded a yes and Zim continued "well that's glaringly simple isn't it? The invasion fleet is on its way. Before you start doubting, just follow me, I'll show you." With that Zim walked into his kitchen stopping in front of a large garbage compacting unit. Zim "I had to replace the toilet a few years ago, Gir had an.." he paused for a moment searching for the right words "… accident, with the fridge." Offering no other explanation zim pressed a green button on the garbage compactor, the front opened to reveal a cicular platform that could hold two comfortably but would be a little tight for all three of them.

Zim entered and motioned for them to join him, Dib stepped in first and pushed to the extreme opposite of Zim. This forced Gaz to get squished between the two of them, she kept her elbow firmly jabbed into Dibs ribs to show her appreciation. The door closed in front of the trio and the capsule started moving down. After a few layers of dirt the area around them became visible, the sides of the capsule were made of some sort of see-through plastic, they passed through dozens of levels. Robots were working in every section, all of them looked like metallic spiders. There were factory sections where robots made more of themselves, some sections where they made what looked like weapons and even small fighter ships were being mass produced. Next they traveled through what looked like laboratory's dozens of chemical and biological samples were stored in vast shelves lining the walls.

Dib was at a loss for words, and even his sister relaxed her elbow as they went deeper and deeper into the Earth's crust. Dib was glad he wasn't the only one amazed by what he was seeing. All this time Zim had been amassing an army and from what he could see Zim could easily take over the earth. So why did he call in the fleet? Dib was getting more and more confused by the minute. Hopefully some answers waited at the bottom of this endless underground base.

-End of Chapter 1-


	2. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2, Rage-

-POV++Gaz++POV

-Cramped into the tiny capsule Gaz could feel Dib and Zims every shift and movement. Her idiot brother couldn't stop moving once they could see the inner workings of Zims underground lair. Zim in contrast was completely motionless, almost tense like some sort of predator that didn't wish to frighten its prey. She couldn't help but wonder at what had changed Zim so drastically. He used to be so, well so small and so boisterous. He would scream and shout about doing things, then hatch some ineffective scheme that even her moronic brother could beat. Now though he was tougher, almost like life had hardened him. She snuck a glance at him, taking a longer look then she had intended. His new uniform barely hid any real detail of his physique, the skin tight material clearly displayed the muscular body underneath. She couldn't help her mind wandering into darker thoughts as she looked him over, as her gaze rose to his face she realized he was staring at her.

-Quickly averting her gaze she felt a hot rush to her cheeks and she knew she was blushing. Gaz could feel the heat of his eyes boring into her back, she decided to fall back upon her tried and true course of action. She slammed an elbow into his stomach, but he didn't budge nor utter a sound. She risked a second glance at his face, he was looking away now. Whether her elbow had made him look away or he had done it on his own accord, she couldn't tell. But her relief was immense when the capsule finally stopped and she could step outside and away from him. They had ended up in some sort of command center. Computers and screens, alien in design and control, cluttered the tables and walls. Zim moved to a central chair that was conveniently positioned so one could see the bulk of the monitors from a single spot. He sat and began tapping commands into some sort of energy console that was projected out from the chair itself. A series of images began displaying across several of the monitors.

-Zim "this is the video feed from a long range probe I sent out about a month ago." The images began zooming through space, stars gliding past like fireflies in the wind. After a minute the images began slowing down, and hundreds of tiny objects could be seen in the distance. As they got closer Gaz heard Dib make an awkward noise, something between a gasp and a gulp. She was about to kick him, for no real reason other than relieving some pent up tension from earlier, when she noticed something about the objects. They were all ships. Hundreds of them, and as they got clearer she saw that they were massive with thousands of tiny ships flying in patterns around them. Zim turned in his chair and spoke with a voice full of venom "Now you ignorant Dirt-Creatures know the coming of your utter and complete destruction. Revel in the 'Glory' of the Irken armada and know that they mass their complete might against your puny planet." Gaz wasn't sure, but it almost sounded like Zim was unhappy.

-Gaz "we don't stand a chance." Zim looked at her, his face softened slightly at her words but he nodded in agreement with her statement. She wondered why he seemed to feel bad, and might even have asked him if her damn brother could have kept his mouth shut.

-Dib "they will destroy everything, no one will survive. There is no hope against a fleet of that size, why would you even bother sending me the note? Did you want to gloat? Is this just some sick game you get to play with me before I watch everything I care for die?" Gaz watched stunned as her brother leapt at Zim in a fit of rage, Dib "I will kill you! Fucking alien, I will make sure you don't live to see your masters take over this world." Zim stood from his chair, so fast that Gaz wasn't sure if he was already standing, deflecting Dibs wild swings. Dib yelled, saliva spraying all over Zim, "I will sever your ugly green head from your shoulders and toss it at the feet of your masters you dog!" Zim started off fairly calm, but as Dib continued to insult him Zim showed a lot of pent up rage bubbling to the surface. Dib continued his rant "You won't even live to enjoy licking the boots of your masters you arrogant Slave!" Zims Antenna snapped straight back at the mention of slave, his arms shot forward grabbing Dib by the collar.

-Pulling Dib within an inch of his face Zim screamed with a feral intensity "They are not my _**Masters**_!" The last word was said with such intensity and hatred that it shocked all the anger straight out of her brother. That was when she noticed that Zim was actually holding Dib several inches above the floor, acting fast she stepped forward grabbing for Zims wrist. His arm snapped out grabbing her hand, his grip was incredible it was as if her hand was in a steel trap. He stared at her, his eyes burning oceans of hatred, and for one of the rare times in Gaz's life she was afraid. Something strange happened then, his eyes focused on hers and he calmed. He released her hand, a look of what she could only describe as shame on his face. He gently lowered Dib to his feet, releasing his collar then took a few soft steps away from the siblings. In a gentle almost caring voice Zim said "I sent the note because I figured you deserved to know. I thought you might want some time to say goodbye to those you love."

-Zim turned away from them, his head hung low, and to Gaz's surprise she found herself walking over to him. She placed a tentative hand upon his arm, Zim turned to her his eyes betraying only hints of the emotions they held before. Dib "what do we do Zim. There has to be something we can do, some way to stop them." Zim turned to Dib and shook his head "There is nothing that humanity can do to even slow their doom. The armada will be here in less than three weeks, the majority of your species won't even know that they are doomed until it is all over." Dib hung his head disheartened for a moment before snapping back to stare at Zim one more. Dib "nothing that humanity can do but is there something that you can do?" Gaz suddenly recalled the massive army of machines they had just witnessed in Zim's lair. Could those even hope to fight the might of the Irken fleets, and why would zim even help humanity he seemed to have nothing but disdain for them.

-Zim raised an eyebrow at Dib "are you suggesting that I would help you humans to live, Fight my own people and risk what little is left of my life to give you a chance at survival?" Dib "yes I am, you sent me the note. That gesture shows that even on some small level you care, and you already admitted that they aren't your masters. Why wouldn't you help us, are they going to make you supreme ruler of earth once humanity is dead?" Zim chuckled a dry humorless chuckle "no delusional-Dib-human. They are on their way to kill me as much as the rest of humanity." Zim moved back to his chair, leaning forward he punched a few strange symbols and the monitors began playing a recorded transmission.

-Almighty Tallest Red "Zim, we know what you have planned and we will not stand for this highest of treasons." Purple "we shall bring down the might of the Irken Empire upon your head, destroying you along with every disgusting human creature in existence." Red "your mutation will not be tolerated, pathetic attempts to force your way into the ranks of the tallest is foremost of your crimes." Purple "as if your demented expeiriments with your own flesh weren't enough of a crime, your plot to attack the Irken Empire brings the full might of our armada against you." Red "Impending doom III is the largest operation in the history of the Immortal Irken Empire, and its might is directed solely at Earth." Purple "there will be nothing left of that disgusting planet, not a single molecule, when we are done." Red "you have brought this upon yourself." The transmission cuts out there, leaving static until Zim taps another symbol.

-The gentle hum of electronics could be heard clearly in the complete silence that followed. Dibs mouth worked in dozens of patterns, no doubt it was his body trying to cope with the hundreds of questions that must have been rattling around in his dork mind. There was only one thing that mattered to Gaz, Zim had planned to attack the Irkens not humans. That meant there was some hope, all they needed to do was convince Zim to help them fight back. As she was trying to formulate a way of convincing him to help them, honestly her plans were all based upon beating him up until he did what she wanted, Dib spoke. Dib "you were going to attack them? Why? I thought you wanted to ready earth for your empires invasion, what happened?" Zim took a deep breath, calming himself before responding "ignoring the obvious need to move on to more important things, I have a feeling that you won't shut up until I satisfy your base curiosity." Gaz had to admit she was curious about how this had all come to pass, so she said nothing to interrupt as Zim related his tale.

-Zim "it was almost two years after you moved away. I had attempted many times to weaken your local earth government, frankly my efforts were pathetic and juvenile. I had just failed to tunnel into the local McMeatys, the plan was to infect the meat there with mind control spores infecting the local populace into doing my bidding. Suffice to say, the drill exploded and I was injured in the process. When I called up the arrogant tallest they hadn't realized they answered and continued speaking as if I wasn't listening. It was then that I learned of the real reason I was sent to the edge of the galaxy. It had nothing to do with conquering any planets. They sent me away to get rid of me, the fact that I had even found a planet was a thorn in their side. They humored me and sent me off with defective technology in the hopes that I would be killed, or lost forever. They abandoned me, and all I had ever wanted was to please them."

-Gaz saw the rage returning to his face, Zim "I stopped trying to weaken the earth then, gave up contact the tallest and even stopped going to school." He stood slowly and softly added "I was abandoned, alone." For a moment Gaz understood some of Zim, part of his rage and part of his sorrow. She had felt that sorrow, abandoned first by her mother's death then by her father's, she knew what it was like to be alone. That rage she was all too familiar with, wanting to punish the world for wronging you. For the first time in her life Gaz felt like she could relate to someone. Felt like she might even be able to talk to someone. It had been less than ten minutes since she learned about the end of the world but Gaz was actually happy.

-Dib "so that's it? They have you beat now, you're just going to lie down here and let them walk all over you? Not even willing to put up a fight?" Zim growled low and dangerously at Dib "Watch what you say Dib-creature. I am not in the mood for one of your outbursts." She could feel the anger radiating off of him, there had to be more fueling Zims rage then being abandoned. Dib "what are you going to do? Hide here in your base and hope they don't find you, or run away before they get here?" Zims anger seemed to settle a little at these accusations and he turned so that gaz couldn't see his face. Zim "the plan was to use as many resources as I could manage to build up my drones and ships in what little time is left. Then leave this doomed rock and find another suitable to continue building my forces." Gaz was disappointed, Zim had intended on running. Dib "I knew it, you're a coward." Zim bolted up from his Chair "Take that back Dirt-Creature! Zim is no coward!" Dib took a step towards Zim "you are going to run away, that makes you a coward." Zim hissed before replying "why would I stay on your doomed planet? This is not my home, I have no home. Why should I lose all that I have worked for just so I could die with your pathetic race? There is no reason for me to fight and die here, and that is all that would happen. I would die alongside you and the rest of your puny species."

-Dib stayed quiet but held his ground, staring evenly as Zim continued "if I leave before they get here at least I can continue building my forces and eventually become strong enough to take them on. If I stay all is lost, it would take the combined resources of the entire planet working round the clock to even stand a chance of surviving the coming onslaught. That would take me openly working with each country to build ships and weapons just for a slim chance of survival." Zim was becoming more animated as he paced, waving his arms about to accentuate his speech. Gaz thought about what he was saying, he must have thought it through. He may even have some sort of a plan to help but he has no reason to help. Again it all fell down to convincing him to want to help earth, but how were they supposed to do that. Gaz herself didn't really like earth, or even other humans for that matter.

-Dib "Can you at least let us stay here for a day or two so we could gather up everything you know and tell other people?" Both Gaz and Zim turned t stare at Dib as one. Gaz "Stay-" Zim "-here?" they looked at each other while Dib spoke "yes, stay here. That way you can make sure we don't go trying to do anything to expose your operation while it's still underway jeopardizing everything your working for." Zims eyes narrowed at this possibility but Dib continued "and I can make sure my sister is safe while I try to let other people know so they can at least prepare." Gaz was shocked, partially because of her brothers suggestion that they stay at Zims house but mostly at herself because she really wanted Zim to say yes. Zim was silent, a thoughtful expression on his face as he thought through Dibs idea. In the silence Gaz was silently praying that he would allow them to stay, hopeful that she could learn more about Zim and maybe tell him a little about her.

-That was when Gaz noticed something small and clear fall in front of her face. She looked down seeing a tiny drop of a thick brown liquid on the floor. She was trying to figure out what it was when someone whispered.

-"_Waffle Ninja"_ she looked around, Dib was just as puzzled but Zim was so deep in thought he didn't seem to notice. As Gaz was looking at his face she saw Gir slowly dropping from the ceiling his head aimed at the floor, in each paw he was holding a syrup coated waffle. She was confused for a moment until she realized what was about to happen. Pointing behind Zim she tried to warn him, "Zim, Watch out Be-" but it was too late. Gir slammed the waffles into either side of Zims face, the resounding wet smack echoed through the command center.

-Gir leapt down from the cord he had been hanging from and proceeded to run around the room wildly screaming "Candy Coated Egg Battery Breakfast of Doom!" Gaz looked on in horror as the waffles stayed stuck to Zims head for a few seconds before slowly peeling off and splattering on the floor. His antenna twitched displaying only a hint of his annoyance before he screamed "Gir! What have I told you about waffle ninja?" Gir "That you would rude the day that waffle ninja returned master!" Zim slapped a hand to his forehead, realizing too late that it would only result in further discomfort. Then spoke evenly as he peeled the sticky appendage from his face "It is Rue Gir, and it means regret, and I was telling you that you would regret the next time waffle, you know what never mind. I'm going to go clean up humans, today has been long and horrible."

-As Zim turned and began walking away Dib chimed in "So we can stay?" Zim waved dismissively behind him "Fine fine, you can stay as long as you clean up that mess." Gaz and Dib turned to face each other, then Gaz pulled out her game slave and booted it up as she followed Zim out of the room. As she left she heard Dib groan "damn it, why syrup" and she smiled, looking forward to staying here for reasons she still had trouble understanding.

-End of Chapter 2-


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Italics represent Vocalized thoughts, or things we say in our heads.

-Chapter 3, Pain-

-POV++Zim++POV-

Zim stepped out of his sonic shower, feeling refreshed and clean. Stepping over to the mirror he grimaced at the myriad of scars covering his body the pain once again building in his torso. Once again he cursed this planet and its inhabitants for what they did to him. He glanced over to his uniform, its upper portions still covered in syrup and waffle bits, tossing it to a care-bot to be cleaned he headed for his room. He passed several hallways and doors, hearing a small high pitched squeak he stopped and backed slowly to one of the doors. Opening it he looked inside, it was a simple spare room, seeing nothing out of place in his quick glance he shrugged and kept walking. Zim made it all the way to his room, closing the door before he remembered that the Membrane siblings were staying in his base and he had just walked through the hallway naked. He rubbed one of his temples and took a few deep breaths, wincing from the chest pain.

Zim walked over to his dresser and grabbed a vial of thick pink liquid, gulping it down and gagging slightly from the horrific taste. Within moments the pain subsided to a dull ache, it had been so long since his body had been healthy and whole. He wasn't advancing his medical treatments fast enough, but he just didn't really know what was going on. He guessed that he was changing ever since he landed on this planet but he didn't notice any differences until about five years ago. That was when he started growing and developing, that was also when his bones started cracking from the pressures and his muscles started tearing as they were stretched beyond his original body. Zim flexed his arms, studying the muscles as they tightened and loosened, wondering if the improved physical abilities were really worth all the damn pain.

He placed his claw like fingers against the metal wall, flexing his hand until the metal began to bend under the pressure. He removed his hand and smiled at the warped metal, it was probably worth the pain. He thought back recalling his yelling match with Dib a few hours before. He could have ripped Dibs spine out but somehow he remained in control, then there was the look on Gaz's face. In his rage he had turned on her for interfering, he saw terror in her eyes and it made him ashamed. He didn't quite understand it. When he caused terror in other humans he was perfectly fine with it, usually enjoying it actually, but something about Gaz was different. She made him feel strange, warm pulses radiated through his body when he saw her. It was all just so confusing.

Zim figured it might have been something she was wearing, he imagined her outfit. Simple black tank top under that small leather jacket barely hid her well developed breasts and the short skirt managed to give just enough coverage to keep you guessing but the leggings did nothing except accent her pale skin. The more he thought about it the stranger he felt. Zim opened his eyes with a start and looked down, he was rock hard. That had never happened before, he poked it a few times trying to discover the nature of this sudden change. The more he tried to discern a cause the softer he became until within a few minutes he was back to normal. Quite confused but back to normal he shrugged, slight pain flowing through his neck down his shoulders with the motion. He grabbed a simple pair of black slacks and a plain white T-shirt, no socks or shoes, and left his room. He headed back to the control room, wanting to make up for lost time due to that moronic human Dib and his interesting sister.

He sat in his control chair, hand quickly moving about the display bringing up dozens of trackers and images. He set about his work, prioritizing build times and managing resource purchases or deliveries. As he worked he began reciting numbers and timelines aloud, he noted that verbal communication helped him think. His deliveries of copper and zinc would arrive on schedule, this was good. On the other hand his delivery of heavy water particles would be delayed significantly, very bad news. He continued for several hours, until his eyes hurt and his head was too full of numbers to continue. He began shutting his programs down when he heard some strange sounds, it was small beeps and clicks. It took him a moment but then he realized that those were the sounds of a Game Slave. Zim spun around in his chair and saw Gaz sitting cross legged on a chair behind him, playing her game slave with Gir curled up under her feet.

She was wearing one of his shirts, a baggy black and purple shirt dedicated to a local band that Zim liked. The shirt was far too large for her body, neck line showing the majority of her collar and even a hint of cleavage. While the sleeves came down past her elbows, the shirt would have looked like a dress if she had been standing up but with her sitting like that Zim was afforded a clear view of her panties. His cheeks turned a darker shade of green as he tried to concentrate on her face. Mustering up some fake anger Zim started off a little more aggressively then he wanted "Why are you wearing my shirt human?" She paused her game and glared at him for a moment before responding "we are staying here, for at least the night. My idiot brother ran off to do whatever it is that dorks do and you have some sort of lock disabling me from using the lift to get back up stairs so I could go get some clothes. I'm not sleeping in a skirt, so I told Gir to get me something to wear and he brought me this."

She resumed her game before adding "if it upsets you that much I could take it off." Zim blushed slightly at the images her statement brought to mind, oh how he wished she would remove the shirt. Not knowing how to respond he merely added "well just don't rip it, it's one of my favorites." She raised an eyebrow at him then glanced back down at the shirt, a small smirk appearing on her face. Zim sighed heavily and turned back to his consol, he finished closing several of the programs before putting the system back on monitoring. He stood up to leave when Gaz asked "Do you always talk to yourself when you're working?" Zim got defensive at this and snapped back at her "It's not like I have anyone else to talk to, I'm not human, I can't just walk up to some random person on the street and invite them into my secret underground lair. So don't presume to judge me dirt-creature, I don't have all the friends you do."

Gaz raised her voice at him "that has nothing to do with the fact that you're an alien, nobody would want to talk to you because you're a fucking asshole." With that she stormed off, leaving Zim stunned and feeling very shitty. His neck jolted in pain, which coupled with the frustrating feelings Gaz kept bringing up in him made him lash out at the wall on his way back to his room. A large 3 clawed gash was left in his wake as he hurried through the hallway. Pain began running up his spine intensifying with each step. Not now he thought, not again. He began stumbling the last few steps down the hallway, barely managing to fall into his room. Dragging himself towards his dresser his body started convulsing and he could hear the bones cracking. Zim wasn't quite sure how he managed it but he grabbed a vial of his medicine, gulping the contents down before a spasm forced his hand to crush the vial. Glass embedded into his palm and blood began seeping from the wounds, he felt the medicine kick in and his body started to relax. Zim was exhausted, passing out on the floor in his room.

PO V++Dib++POV

Dibs eyes burned, he glanced at his watch it read three AM. He had been up all night sending out Zim's video footage of the impending fleet to hundreds of his old contacts, he hoped it would be enough to get them the extra support they would need. The only real problem was convincing Zim to help, he had been thinking about that problem since he realized it could be an option. Hell it was their only real choice, either they convinced Zim to help them or humanity was doomed. He wouldn't let it end that way. Dib rubbed his eyes trying to work the sleep out of his system. He decided he needed to get up and move, sitting still for hours had left him pretty cramped. Stretching as he stood Dib felt his joints screaming at the movement, but he felt better once he was up.

Feeling his stomach rumble and realizing he hadn't eaten in over eight hours he decided to find the kitchen. As he was passing through the halls he noticed one of the doors was still open, curious he peeked inside. Zim was twitching on the floor, curled up in a widening pool of a light pink fluid that Dib could only assume was Irken blood. Dib reacted the only way he knew how, he screamed for help. Dib "Help; Gaz, Gir, anybody help!" He moved into the room and tried to assess what was wrong with Zim. His muscles were twitching and pulsing, his right hand looked like it had dozens of shards of glass stuck in it and there were dozens of spots on his shirt that were stained with blood. Dib felt completely useless, he had no real medical training and even if he did he wasn't sure anything he could do would help an alien. He heard footfalls from the hallway and turned to see Gaz run in wearing a man's shirt and little else.

She looked past Dib and her eyes widened as she saw Zim on the floor, she practically shoved him out of the way as she knelt next to Zims body. Dib took a short step back and watched as she ripped Zims shirt off exposing his chest, he was covered in scars and cuts. His skin looked almost like it was ripping in places, Dib momentarily wondered what could cause those injuries. His curiosity was sated a moment later when a particularly large spasm rocked Zims body, causing his abdomen to pulse and twitch violently, skin tearing to make way for rapidly growing muscles. They heard a sickening crack coming from Zims body and dib could only wonder in horror at what was wrong. Gaz was attempting to hold Zim still, but as his body began thrashing she got caught by his arm and tangled up with him on the floor.

-POV++Gaz++POV-

His blood was everywhere, it covered her, she could even taste it. She couldn't get him under control, he was much stronger then she could ever have guessed and she couldn't get any kind of grip. His body was rolling around the floor, taking her with it as his muscles seemed to be going haywire. Gaz saw the broken glass in his right hand and was horrified, some of the shards were sticking out the other side of his hand. She grabbed onto that arm, wanting to do something to help and figuring that stopping him from shoving glass even further into his own body would be the most she could hope for. He proved far too strong for her efforts as his hand began flailing in her direction, she tried with all of her might but it kept coming closer and closer to her head, she glanced over at his agonized face consoling herself that if she was injured doing this at least he wasn't really responsible for it. Then his eyes opened, recognition dawned on him but his body continued its mad convulsions. His hand, glass shards glistening ominously, got within millimeters of her face and when she thought it was sure to catch her he let out a primal grunt slamming his hand into the floor next to her.

Gaz watched, in what seemed like slow motion, as Zims hand was shredded by the glass when it impacted the metal floor. Whipping her head around expecting to see him in agony she was surprised when his face was barely inches from her own, clear concern in his eyes. Zim "Gaz are you hurt?" She only managed to shake her head gently. _**He called me by my normal name, no human or dirt creature or anything, what is going on with him**__._ Relief flooded through his features, his body momentarily relaxing on top of her. _**He smells nice, like autumn when the leaves were just falling**__. _Gaz was breathing heavy, she felt exhausted but didn't mind his weight on her it was strangely comforting. As usual it was Dib that ruined the moment, Dib "Ahem, are you guys ok?" Zim quickly pushed himself off of her using his good hand, his cheeks turning a darker shade of green. Zim "I am fine human. Are you ok?" he was kneeling with one leg in-between hers reaching down with his good hand to help her up. Gaz looked down at herself, the shirt was almost in ruins. Tears and cuts covered the garment, not to mention the blood that it had soaked up.

Gaz "I'm fine, your shirt is ruined though." Zim looked down at her body, his eyes seeming to drink in every detail, and she remembered she was only wearing a pair of panties under the shirt. Zim looked back at her face as she brought a hand up to grab his, Zim "I think the shirt is the least of my problems for the time being." He held his injured hand close to his chest as if to accentuate his point and pulled her up to a sitting position. Dib "What the hell was that Zim, are you dying?" Gaz's heart skipped a beat, _**no you can't die I just found you**__._ Zim "No you imbecile, I'm not dying. It's the result of an affliction you humans have infected me with." He stood up and walked over to sit on his bed, he continued as he attempted to pull some of the glass from his hand. Zim "my ship wasn't designed with an extended stay on an alien planet in mind. That is to say my supplies eventually ran out. Forced to rely on human plants for food I began experimenting, trying to find human foods that wouldn't kill me or melt my skin off." He grimaced as he fumbled with a piece of glass causing further injury to his hand. Gaz scowled at him and walked over, grabbing his hand and kneeling in front of him. Zim looked like he was about to protest but instead continued with his tale as she began plucking the glass out.

Zim "eventually I found several of your human foods that I could ingest with little harm, but I could never have guessed what eating your tainted food would do to me in the long run." He hissed as she pulled out a fairly large piece, she just scowled at him "Don't be a baby." Zim paused for a moment, and Gaz could feel his eyes watching her as she pulled a few small pieces out but eventually he went back to his tale. Zim "you humans genetically manipulate your food products, I know for I have googled this. What I did not know at the time was the effects that your evil genetic mutations would cause upon my Irken Physiology. It started out with simple headaches and blurred vision, soon enough my body began rejecting most of the implants I had received over my life. Then the spasms and convulsions began, it's actually my body breaking and mending bones while growing increased muscle capacity."

Gaz looked at him in horror**,**_** breaking his bones**__?_ She tried to imagine the physical torment something like that would cause, and her mind didn't even know where to begin. Zim "at first my Pak helped with healing the damage and stopping the pain but eventually my body had changed too much. My Pak no longer recognized me as Irken, so it tried to kill me." Zim pointed at the scar on his face "That is where I got this." Gaz pulled the last chunk of glass from his hand, looking around for something to wrap up the wound she grabbed a chunk of the shirt he had been wearing. Ripping it into several strips Gaz wiped away as much of the blood as she could before wrapping up his damaged hand. Zim flexed his hand, wincing with the movement "I am in a position where I am unsure of what to say Gaz-human." She stood up raising an eyebrow at him, Gaz "you could say thank you." Zim stood up smiling at her, _**His teeth look like those of a predator.**_ He wrapped his arms around her in a gentle but firm hug, Zim "many statements of thanks Gaz-human." She could feel the heat flowing to her cheeks as he held her close and she slowly put her hands on him to return the hug. Gaz felt safe in Zims arms, safer then she had ever felt.

-End of Chapter 3-


	4. Chapter 4

Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviews, greatly enjoy feedback on my work.

-Chapter 4, Connections-

POV++Dib++POV

Dib couldn't believe what he was seeing, Zim was hugging his sister and what was even more astounding was she seemed to be enjoying it. He coughed loudly, Zim pulled away from the embrace, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Gaz glared daggers at Dib, giving him an idea. The solution to his problem, he didn't need Zim to want to save the earth, he just needed Zim to want to save Gaz. As long as Gaz was on earth Zim would protect humanity. He would have to talk to Gaz about this later, but he couldn't just tell her she probably wouldn't like the idea of tricking Zim. So Dib would just have to trick her into tricking him. Foolproof, he smiled thinking about his brilliance. Zim "Dirt-creature, what amuses you?" Dib needed to think fast, his smile could ruin everything, "oh I'm just happy you seem to be okay Zim." Trying to distract them both he added "you both look like you could use a shower, the pink blood isn't exactly the best look.

That got them to look down at their clothes again, they agreed with Dibs assessment and Zim directed them to a nearby bathroom. Zim also warned them that the shower used sound waves to clean instead of water. Dib walked Gaz to the bathroom "Gaz ill grab you another shirt from Zim, after you clean up and change I really need to talk to you about something." Gaz looked at him suspiciously and he quickly added "It's just about saving the earth Gaz, I think I have a plan." She scoffed at him but nodded anyway "I just hope it's better than your usual plans dweeb." With that she slammed the door in his face, Dib was used to that though. He hurried back to Zims room, grabbed a shirt and placed it outside the bathroom door. Taking the opportunity while both Zim and Gaz were occupied Dib ran down to the control center. He pulled out his tablet, hooking it up to one of the access ports. Dib smiled as he began hacking into Zim's mainframe, pulling out blueprints and technical readouts on the Irken ships as well as Zims drones.

He stifled a laugh, once the files finished downloading he was going to send them out to his contacts. This would let humanity build these weapons so they could fight back, destroying these Irken and once Zim was no longer needed to help humanity survive they could be used against him. Dib was brilliant, two aliens with one ray gun. He heard footsteps behind him and he whirled around, it was Zims little robot dog thing. Gir "What are you dooooing?" Dib was afraid, if this robot-dog thing told Zim then his whole plan would be in danger. Dib looked around, seeing a small metal pipe lying on the table near him he picked it up and began waving it around excitedly "Who wants the pipe boy? You do, you want the pipe boy!" Gir tilted his head, imitating the way dogs show curiosity "I want the pipe?" Dib was beginning to get extremely nervous, he glanced back at the progress on his download it was almost done. Dib "Of course you want the pipe! You're a dog, it's a pipe, match made in doggy heaven." He began walking slowly towards Gir, dark thoughts forming from his desperation. Gir "ooooh, Piiiiippppee."

Dib began moving it in slow circles, watching as Gir kept his eyes glued to it. Gir "it's so pretty, me likey pipe." He got within striking distance of Gir and swung with all of his desperation, a sickening crunch followed by an electrical discharge caused him to clench his eyes shut. Part of the charge transferred through the pipe causing him to drop it as his arm became numb. Dib was breathing hard and shaking, he opened his eyes and felt sick at the scene before him. Gir was on his back, portion of his green dog suit was torn open, his head was dented badly and the pipe was sticking out of his shattered right eye. Sparks were still spitting out of the open circuitry. _**What have I done?**_ His stomach was turning in knots, he couldn't move, his tablet beeped in the background. Snapping out of his shock Dib ran over to disconnect his tablet from the computer, all the files were now safely stored in his pocket.

Now he had a much larger problem, he looked around frantically searching for somewhere to hide Gir's body. While he was trying to pick a hallway he heard one of the doors opening, he panicked and grabbed Gir by the leg. Dragging his sparking body behind him Dib just chose the closest hallway, he silently thanked his lucky stars that Gir had been wearing the fluffy dog costume as it made dragging him much quieter. He practically ran down the hall to a set of double doors at the far end, pushing them open with his shoulder he saw a room dedicated to what looked like supplies. He had an idea, releasing Gir and cutting open one of the boxes, he emptied the contents into a far corner of the room. Grabbing Gir once more he placed his body into the box and found some tape to seal the box back up.

He was glad that most of the feeling was returning to his arm, _**Okay everything will be fine. By the time Zim finds his body it will just be too late. **_Dib took a deep breath, steadying himself, before walking out into the hallway. He heard someone rummaging around in the control room and felt a ting of fear, until he saw that it was only Gaz. He sighed heavily, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Gaz saw him and gave him a judging look, "Dib, what were you doing?" The fear returning Dib decided to play ignorant "what do you mean Gaz? I was just walking around" his earlier thoughts of food returned to him "looking for the kitchen." He patted his stomach "I'm starving, been on the computer for hours." He hoped that was enough to ease her concern, Gaz "oh, well it's this way." She started walking down the opposite hallway from where he had come, Dib jogged over to continue talking with her. For the second time that day he thanked his lucky stars.

Gaz "so you wanted to talk to me, you better not be thinking about running away again." Dib smiled and chuckled half heartedly, Gaz remained serious, he coughed before answering "No, it's nothing like that. It's actually that I found a way that I think we could win." She looked at him, her face full of doubt, "you honestly think we could even stand a chance against a fleet that large. Fighting against advanced alien technology that make our best weapons look like pointy sticks." She shook her head "you are either delusional or far dumber than I thought" she turned away and opened the door to the kitchen. Dib followed her in and hurried to what looked like the fridge "well the alien technology is far more advanced than our own I'll give you that much, I mean we would have to have such technology ourselves to even stand a chance." He looked through the fridge where nothing but fruits, vegetables, bread and cheese awaited him. Gaz was looking through the cupboards when she stopped and turned towards him "you want to use Zims technology against the Irken don't you?"

Dib smiled "Exactly, isn't it brilliant? All we need to do is convince Zim to help us." She looked surprised "oh, you want to get him to help us? At first it seemed like you were going to steal his stuff and try to kill him." Dib was stunned, had he given that much away somehow. Gaz continued "but I'm glad you want to try and work with him, I think he's actually a nice guy. He's just a little hurt is all." Dib relaxed, she didn't suspect him, grabbing a few slices of bread and some cheese he sat at a strange oval table and ate. Gaz found this large freezer and made a sound of amazement, Dib glanced over and almost dropped his sandwich. From floor to ceiling and lining every wall were stacks of frozen pizzas, hundreds of different kinds from personal to party sizes we sorted alphabetically inside. Gaz grabbed a medium cheese and walked over to a fairly normal looking oven. Dib decided to ask about this "everything in here looks so alien, except for that oven. I wonder why that is?" Gaz looked at him like he was retarded "because the instructions for cooking the pizza's are meant for ovens, duh."

Dib smacked himself in the forehead and decided to change topics "so how do you think we could convince Zim to help us?" Gaz placed the pizza into the oven and set it to cook "how am I supposed to know, you're the guy with the plan." Dib "well my plan is pretty simple, I will go contact all the guys I know that believe this sort of thing and share everything I can on the threat. Once we get some outside support we can share it with Zim and maybe he can increase his production or something but we need him to be on our side." Gaz crossed her arms and dib figured that it was now or never "you have to convince Zim to join us Gaz, and you're the only one that can do it." Gaz looked stunned and thought about what he said for a minute before replying "what makes you think I could convince an alien to do anything?" Dib was hopeful, she hadn't said no "Gaz don't you see how he looks at you? How he talks to you or even acts around you? He likes you, so you could get away with things I couldn't."

The change in her demeanor was immediate and obvious, he knew he had her help even if she wouldn't agree to it. Now she believed Zim liked her it was only natural that she would try to get closer to him and by getting close to him she would help Dib's plan, he was feeling quite successful. Gaz "well what would I have to do, just get him to help out?" Dib nodded "essentially just get him to agree to use his forces and factories, with whatever extra supplies we can get for him, to help defend against the invasion. No risk to him, he can still keep his plan to run away an option, just get him to try to save humanity. She was thoughtful for a second "and you won't try to kill him or expose him or anything?" Dib smiled a genuine smile, _**Gotcha,**_ "I swear that I will do nothing to harm Zim." Gaz seemed to be satisfied with that "ok, I'll do it." Dib stood up to leave, his sandwich finished "Thanks a ton sis, you are doing the right thing."

-POV++Zim++POV-

Zim sat in his command chair, absentmindedly rubbing his bandaged hand, he didn't recall every detail from the night before but he clearly remembered Gaz. Lying under him, the shirt ripped exposing her delicate skin underneath. She had looked so beautiful, her body full of promises and secrets. He could even remember her smell, intoxicating like the rarest of scents, he couldn't tell what it was but he knew that he loved it. His body had strange reactions as he thought of her, his chest felt constricted and his pants were no longer loose. _**Gaz, what are you and what do you mean to me? **_He stood, needing something to take the edge off he went to his kitchen. An open pizza box was set out on the counter and the oven was wide open but turned off, Zim was confused for a second but figured it must have been the Membranes. He grabbed the box and closed the oven, tossing the box into the incinerator chute before going to his fridge.

He grabbed a can of cola, the bubbly beverage had become something of an addiction in the past years, and the drink always seemed to make him feel better. The familiar his of carbonation made him smile as he popped the top, he wondered how the humans were doing. They must be sleeping, he only ever needed a few hours at night to rest, but they seemed to need almost half the day before they were recharged. Zim had been on this planet for years and still he barely understood humans, before his pack went wild he didn't even need sleep. He heard the door swing open and glanced over, it was Gaz. She had obviously just woken up. Her hair was wild, falling at random angles across her face, and she was wearing another of his shirts. He had to admit it looked much better on her then it ever had on him, this one was a black shirt with red splashed across it in a random pattern. It was much smaller than the one she had worn yesterday, so it exposed almost all of her legs and was very tight across her chest.

She stood at the doorway, blushing and trying to hide her embarrassment. Zim couldn't help but smile, _**she's so beautiful, **_"how did you, um… sleep?" Zim cursed silently, humans wouldn't ask things like that, and he probably sounded like an idiot. He was surprised when she smiled back at him. Gaz "I slept all right thanks, had a few messed up dreams but that's fairly normal." He watched as she walked over to the freezer and grabbed a pizza, his stomach rumbled, she stopped and raised an eyebrow at him. Gaz "hungry?" He smiled sheepishly "Yeah I forgot to ingest nutrients when I woke up." She chuckled and went back, grabbing a larger pizza. She had to bend lower to grab the large pizzas, much to Zims excitement, giving him a fantastic view. He felt his body start to react, strange feelings flooded him as his pants started to get tighter. He hoped she wouldn't notice and tried to distract her, "Dreams, What are those, and why are they 'messed up'?"

Gaz opened the oven, placing the pizza inside and setting the timer "you don't dream?" Zim shook his head and she continued "weird, well dreams are like images and stories that your mind comes up with while you're sleeping. I'm not sure why mine are usually messed up, but people say that dreams reflect your life." Zim pondered that for a moment "so your life is 'messed up' and that's why you dream what you do? That is strange human, the need to sleep is new to me so I have yet to have any dreams but I do not relish the idea of pain-stories." He flexed his injured hand once more, Gaz came over to him. She grabbed his hand, he could have fought her grip but he didn't want to, and began unraveling the bandage. She gasped once it wall all off, Zim became concerned "what's wrong?" Gaz, her eyes wide with amazement, replied "It's almost completely healed? Is that normal?" Zim nodded "actually I heal a lot slower than I used to. With my Pak gone wounds also leave scars, which is highly unfortunate." He grabbed the cola with his free hand and took a swig, Gaz noticed the drink "You have soda?" Zim nodded "of course I do, this bubble drink is fantastic, it makes my antenna twitch" he wiggled them to accentuate his point.

Gaz "well can I have some?" Zim pointed to one of the refrigerators "sure help yourself Gaz-human." She went over and opened the fridge, grabbing a fizz-pop. Gaz "my name is Gaz, just plain Gaz. It's not Gaz-human, or Dirt-creature or even Gaz-monkey, just plain Gaz." Zim gave her a look of curiosity "ok Gaz-hu, errm Gaz. I will keep that in my skull compartment." She took a seat across the table from him "So what's really happening with your body Zim? Are you evolving or something?" Zim shook his head "Promise you won't tell the annoying Dib-creature?" she nodded, Zim sighed "well you are close, but I am actually reverting to what my kind used to be." She looked shocked "so you're telling me you went from tall dark and deadly to tiny puny and dumb as part of your evolution?" Zim made a slightly annoyed face at her before explaining "yes and no Gaz, while we used to be what I am now it wasn't natural evolution that made us into the smaller and meeker versions we are today." He took another drink, trying to think of how to explain it so she would best understand. Zim "I don't know everything, the computer didn't have a complete record of Irken history and the genetics only tell me so much, but I do know that we were changed several thousand years ago by some outside force. It might have been our own technology that did it or some other species entirely but it drastically changed our race. Irken don't follow normal biological functions as you would see it, sleep is regulated by our paks which are installed shortly after we leave the tube."

Gaz furrowed her brow "the tube? You mean you aren't born naturally?" Zim shook his head "no we are cloned in mass amounts, it has a few advantages to natural breeding. We can clone out the worst traits and amplify the most desirable ones, so in theory we would end up with vastly superior genetics in each Irken. The only problem I can see is that the cloning process has been changing our bodies to be much weaker and far more reliant on technology. I used to have one super-organ, the Squeedlyspooch, but is has since split into several smaller organs. One to regulate oxygen and respiration, another to handle digestion and consumption of nutrients and one that deals specifically with reproductive functions. As far as I can tell they are still splitting into smaller more specialized organs but I'm not quite sure." Gaz finished chugging her soda "so wait, if you guys were all cloned then what do you do about relationships? I mean do you even have the ability to reproduce?" Zim blushed, _**she sure knows how to cut straight to a personal question, **_he cleared his throat.

"Well, as my body used to be, the organs were there but they had limited function. Our brain was only designed to regulate the Pak while it controlled the rest of our bodily functions. Now that I have 'devolved' away from that, I should be able to but I haven't tried." He took a little pleasure with the fact that she blushed at his answer, he remembered something that had been nagging him since she came in earlier. Zim "Gaz, how did you know I had pizza? You came in and it seemed like you had been here before." Apparently grateful for the subject change Gaz quickly answered "Oh well last night after we, uhm.. spoke in the command center, Gir took me on a tour of the base. He showed me your robot thingys and all the fighter craft and even that big ship your building and stocking for the long trip your planning." Zim slapped his forehead "he told you all that?" he sighed "I regret not de-activating that blasted robot more and more." Gaz looked a little concerned but added "last night after you got hurt he gave me security level security clearance to the base and your computers…" Zims jaw dropped, he didn't know what to say, Gaz quickly added "don't worry I haven't done anything on the computer."

Zim clenched his teeth in frustration "when I find that robot I'm going to… well I don't know but it will be unpleasant and long." Gaz looked confused "where is Gir? I haven't seen him all morning and normally he sticks to me like glue." Zim "he's…" he didn't know where he was either, "Computer, Locate Gir." Computer "I can't, Gir ate my internal sensor module last week and you never replaced it." Zim "Blast, well I'm sure Gir is just finding more tuna-fish or some other such nonsense." Zim had a sinking feeling, something was definitely wrong. Zim "Gaz it was a pleasure talking to you, but I have something I need to take care of." Gaz looked disappointed but offered no objection as he left, heading for the control room.

-End of Chapter 4-


	5. Chapter 5

-Chapter 5, Confession-

-POV++Gaz++POV-

_**Stupid stupid STUPID, why did she mention Gir. They could have been sitting here eating together and talking all morning but she had to bring up the damn robot-dog. **_Gaz sighed, resigning herself to eating pizza alone again. She didn't know why but she just couldn't stop thinking about Zim, his muscles, his confident tone and mannerisms. _**Maybe one day she could convince him to test out his 'reproductive organs'**_ she blushed as she tried to shake the thought. She was losing it, feeling this attracted to an alien, it was just insane. _**Ugh, I want him so badly but does he even know what to do?**_ She thought about it for a minute, _**that's it, he doesn't know. He knows nothing of romance, relationships, love or even lust. **_A wicked thought occurred to her, _**if he doesn't know what his body is doing or why it's doing it then I'll just have to overload his senses.**_ She giggled, _**I know how I'll do it too. I can't wear his shirts forever, I just have to get him to take me back to the house so I can grab some clothes. Then he won't be distracted by all his machines and I can make his biology take over.**_

The oven beeped signaling that the pizza was finished, Gaz pulled it out and grabbed a slice and another soda. _**Damn what about Dib? She would have to find some way for him to stay out of it. preferably on his computer talking to his paranoid friends. **_Well she relaxed to enjoy her pizza, she would come up with something. Gaz ate half the pizza and drank another six soda's before heading back to her room, she passed Dib in the hallway. Dib "ugh, morning Gaz." She punched him in the leg, he fell down and shouted "What the hell, what was that for?" Gaz smiled at him "so dweeb, you brought clothes with you and left them in the car didn't you?" Dib blinked "yeah, how did you know?" she rolled her eyes "you don't make a trip all the way from LA with nothing, even in an emergency." Dib looked embarrassed "yeah I guess you're right, but what does that have to do with punching me?" Gaz smiled a wicked smile at him "and since you have clothing you are going to stay here and make sure nothing goes wrong while Zim takes me to go pick mine up. You are going to enjoy it too and if anything goes wrong here, Anything at all, you will wish the Irken had shown up early and annihilated every last spec of the earth."

Dib looked terrified, Gaz just smiled all the more and walked off. She was positive he had understood her point. Almost giddy with excitement Gaz went back to her room and grabbed her clothes, then almost skipped to the bathroom. Today was going to be a great day, whether it wanted to or not. She felt like her old self again, ready to make the world give her what she wanted. She closed the door to the bathroom, and practically tore her clothes off. The sonic shower was weird at first but once she got used to the lack of water she actually enjoyed it more than a normal shower. The constant vibrations relaxed her muscles and stimulated her skin; making her feel relaxed, clean and truth be told fairly horny. As she was enjoying the feeling she heard the bathroom door open, she let out a loud gasp and covered her body with her arms. She couldn't see who it was, since the door to the shower was made of some thick fogged glass, but it only took the first word for her to recognize his voice. Zim "oh, my apologies Gaz, I will go use the other bathroom." She heard the door opening, _**No don't let him go yet!**_ She blurted the first thing that came to mind "I need to get clothes!" She shut her eyes, _**Dumb Dumb DUMB, **_but she didn't hear the door close. Zim "you need clothing?"

Gaz "I only have the one outfit, and I can't wear your shirts all the time. So can you take me back to my house so I can get some clothes?" _**Please Please Please work,**_ Zim "wouldn't your brother be angry if I went with you to your house, he will probably go crazy on me for talking to you right now. He is grating and very irritating to deal with." _**Damn it, I need something to stop making him think rationally.**_ On impulse she cracked open the shower, sticking her face and shoulders out so that he could clearly see her skin. Zim's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. _**Score, **_"Please? Dib annoys me too, I would much rather spend the time with you. I'm still really curious about all this stuff and what's happening with your Body." She put emphasis on the last word, trying to be blatant enough for him to be affected but not outright blunt where he can see what's going on. Zim was blushing and looked to the ground, but he blushed even harder and stared at the wall instead. Gaz glanced down and almost laughed, her bra and panties were on the floor. _**I would almost feel bad for him if this wasn't quite so much fun.**_

Zim "Well, since you asked Zim nicely I will take you. I should probably leave now." He turned to walk out but Gaz wasn't quite done with him. Gaz "I'm almost done, you should stay. It would be nice to have someone to talk to." _**3 2 1,**_ Zim "ok" he closed the door. _**Gaz 2 Zim 0, now to put him on edge.**_ Gaz "Take off your shirt" Zim looked shocked and Gaz almost let a laugh slip out. Zim "what?" Gaz gave him her best, don't be dumb, look "Take your shirt off so that I can be sure your wounds are all healed up from last night." Zim seemed to relax a bit "oh, I can assure you I am fine now." He took off his shirt anyway, she watched with open fascination at his naked torso. His structured abdomen was visible as he moved but individual muscles were hidden when he was still, his chest was pronounced and to her surprise he had two dark green nipples. His arms were very well muscled but fit with the size of his body, scars covered almost every inch. Some were old and fading but most were recent and pale, making a stark contrast against the rest of his skin. She wanted those arms around her, she wanted to lay her head against that chest and run her fingers down those abs.

Gaz "Good, turn around so I can see your back." He complied with no complaint, and she thought she could see a hint of a smile on his face. His back was well defined as well, dimples right above where his pants hid his ass, thick shoulders and pronounced angel wings. He looked like an Olympic athlete, and she could stare at him all day but this was a delicate process. She closed the door to the shower, trying to relax as she noticed her own arousal. Zim "so does my body pass inspection?" Gaz smiled, if he wanted to play she could play, "Well you seem to have healed, but to pass inspection would require me to see everything. I don't know if you hurt your legs or, well other things." Zim "I can assure you that I'm quite healed and healthy, my body doesn't stay damaged for as long as your human bodies do. I doubt any human could compare to me in physical fields; strength, agility or Endurance." Gaz was having more trouble forgetting her arousal then she had hoped, she could swear Zim was trying to turn her on.

She decided to try and calm the situation down before she pulled him into the shower with her, it wasn't a bad idea but her brother had notoriously bad timing and would definitely ruin everything. Gaz "Zim, why do you hate humans?" His tone changed, "why do I hate humans? That is a long conversation, are you sure you want to know Gaz?" Now she was very curious "yes, tell me so maybe I can defend one or two humans." Zim chuckled "I doubt it. Ok, well where to begin. Let's start with the obvious, humans hate aliens. There are movies, books, songs and even plays about aliens and killing them." Gaz interrupted "but you're trying to conquer other species." Zim "true, but generally we don't want to kill all of them. Once a species is defeated we absorb them into the empire as a secondary citizen and we don't have entertainment based around killing them or torturing them." Gaz shrugged, not arguing that point. Zim "then there is the fact that even if I were to be kind and good to humans and share my technology, you can't tell me that humans would just accept me as I am. They would capture me and dissect me, they wouldn't care because it would be for the betterment of mankind." Gaz couldn't really argue that one since her own brother had attempted to garner those very results on several occasions.

Gaz "ok, but those aren't very good reasons for hating a whole planets worth the people." Zim "also true, and if it were just those I wouldn't have a problem with humans since I hate my own species just as much if not more now. The problem is the third and biggest reason that I hate humans." Gaz began running through all kinds of arguments for anything he could come up with. Zim "I hate humans because humans hate humans." Anything except that, Gaz was confused. What made Zim think humans hated each other? Zims voice got softer and she had to strain to hear him clearly against the sonic shower, she turned it off. "when I was first starting to change and my technology turned on me, I would have episodes where my body would begin changing while I was in public." Gaz grabbed her borrowed shirt and put it on, resting her head against the shower door. "Not once did anyone try to help, they just sped past me and ignored me. I looked like one of them, and sounded like one of them yet the humans just walked past, thinking me some sort of homeless creature. From those gutters I saw the truth of humanity, they hurt each other just so that others won't hurt them first. Even those who were destitute ignored my pain, they were too afraid that it was some trick to take what little they had left."

Zims voice was full of sorrow "after the tallest abandoned me all I wanted was to fit in, but humanity wouldn't let me no matter how hard I tried." Gaz "they push you to be like one of them, unable to accept anything different but you're never good enough." Zim "exactly, They talk about individuality and expression but you give them anything truly unique-" Gaz "- and they destroy it. Break it down and erase every last hint of its existence." She opened the door, he was sitting across from her with his head down and moisture rimmed his eyes. Gaz walked over to him, lifting his chin so he was looking into her face. Gaz "I know how you feel Zim, humans do the same to me." He put a hand on her waist, pulling her towards him. His pull was gentle and she didn't resist, her body pressed against his. She was vividly aware of his lack of shirt and her lack of underwear. He placed his other hand on the side of her head, gently moving her hair from her face. Running his fingers through her hair until it rested at the back of her neck he gently pulled her face towards his. Her heart was beating like a drum inside her chest, her blood was racing and she could feel the heat of his body against hers.

Their lips almost touched, then there was a slamming at the bathroom door. startling both of them, Dib "Gaz, are you in there? I got my stuff out of the car. You can use it if you want." _**I am going to fucking destroy you.**_ Zim stood up, hiding inside the shower with the door closed. Trying to contain her fury she opened the door, Dib stood there with a dumb smile on his face. It was quickly replaced with a look of confused terror "Didn't you want me to go get my stuff?" Gaz grabbed his shirt and slammed him into the wall "Dib, if you don't want your soul to spend forever as a toilet brush for the darkest denizens of hell you will never, Ever, EVER interrupt me when I'm in the shower again. Do I make myself clear?" He nodded frantically "crystal clear Gaz, it will never happen again." She released him and he practically sprinted down the hallway. Closing the bathroom door Gaz rested her head against the cool metal. _**Fuck, I knew he was going to ruin it.**_ Zim "you should probably finish getting dressed, I'm going to shower. Once I'm done though we can go get your stuff?" He said it like a question so she knew he was trying to let her make the decision, "that sounds like a plan to me." She got dressed and left Zim to shower in peace, furious at her brother and disappointed at what she had missed.

-POV++Dib++POV-

His heart wouldn't stop pounding, Gaz was terrifying. Part of him had been happy when she started acting like her old self again, but she has gone completely over the edge. He got back to his room and closed the door, sitting with his back against it trying to catch his breath. There was a flashing on his computer screen, he stood back up on shaky legs. It was a message from one of his contacts, they had distributed the plans for the weapons and even got some under the table government support. Everything on their end was going better than he had hoped, but now Gaz could pose a problem. He shook his head, _**what am I thinking? Gaz is my sister, she will do the right thing.**_ Humanity had to come first, and he was confident that Gaz would side with her species over some alien, no matter what she felt for him. He took a few deep breaths, letting his body relax. He had to think of what he was going to do with Zims base while the two of them were away.

Dib remembered Gir, he had to think of something a little more permanent for disposing of the robot. He could handle that while they were gone, and maybe implant a little program of his own into Zims computer mainframe. He sat down, chatting with some of his contacts. He smiled, they were going to help him with a command and control program so that he could take over Zims robots. Now maybe they wouldn't even need Zims help. Today was a good day for humanity, he would do anything to make sure that humans came out on top in this fight. Now all he needed to do was wait, once the two of them left he could cause all kinds of problems for Dear Zim.

-End of chapter 5-


	6. Chapter 6

Notes: if you cant tell from the title, this chapter gets pretty steamy and graphic. If anyone doesn't like that sort of thing please feel free to skip it. if you do like that sort of thing please review and tell me how I did, first time writing a romance 'Moment'.

Disclaimer: adult material below, be responsible and enjoy.

-Chapter 6, Passion-

-POV++Zim++POV-

Zim stood in the shower, letting the vibrations relax his body. His mind was in turmoil, emotions tore at him. _**We almost kissed, **_he replayed the scenario over and over again in his mind. He could still feel her soft skin under his hand, the barest touch of her lips before they were interrupted. His body was on fire, his flesh demanded her touch and his chest pounded her name, _**Gaz**_. He pressed his forehead against the wall, trying to focus on the pressure which helped him calm down. He felt the blood return to his mind, he glanced down. _**I guess it's probably supposed to do that, just never did before I spent time with her.**_ Zim took several deep breaths, he needed to finish up and get ready. Turning off the shower and quickly tossing his pants on Zim went back to his room. He took several minutes to pick out an outfit, well fit but not tight black slacks with his normal black sneakers and a pale red button up shirt.

It had been fairly nice outside so he rolled up the sleeves and unbuttoned the top two buttons. He glanced at his image in the mirror, disappointment was his first reaction, his outfit looked fine it was just the person in the clothing that he didn't much care for. His antenna were angled back giving some aggressive tones to his face, this feeling was enhanced by the garish scar on his left eye making him look perpetually angry. Where his skin was showing there were dozens of scars, reminders of his painful transformation. He sighed heavily, _**what was I thinking, all I am is a monster in nice clothing. Fool, even if you weren't covered in scars and wounds you would still be an alien to her. **_He took off the shirt, instead grabbing a thin long sleeve shirt. He could wear it and have it cover his body without getting too uncomfortable. He looked again in the mirror, wishing he could hide his face. Depression threatening to take over Zim clicked the wrist disguise on, the human exterior felt like a shield to him.

Walking through the hallways he went to Gaz's room, tentatively he knocked and was surprised when she answered the door almost immediately. He saw a slight look of disappointment in her eyes, pain made him looks away from her "I was just coming to see if you were ready to go." She nodded and followed him out of the living area and through the control room. Zim paused for a moment before asking "do you want to use the car, or would you rather fly?" Gaz looked thoughtful, then answered with a smile "definitely fly." He returned her smile and led her toward the hangar. Passing through restricted sections and several blast doors they came to a stop in front of a large set of double doors. Gaz "this is where you big ship is, are we taking that?" Zim shook his head "no it's not really designed for atmospheric flight, we will just take one of the smaller scout craft I have." She nodded "what do we do about being seen, wouldn't like the government try to shoot us down or something?" He smiled "that's why I installed cloaking generators on most of my ships." Gaz looked amazed "so we are going to be invisible?"

Zim couldn't help but cheer up, something about Gaz was infectious and made him just feel like smiling. He chuckled "yes, we will be quite invisible." He opened the doors, pausing for a few seconds to take in the results of all his hard work. Small worker-bots scurried around dragging parts and tools to other bots as they climbed onto the massive ship in the center of the hangar. Standing as tall as most buildings and almost a football field long was his flagship, the centerpiece of his survival plan. It had a sleek exterior, smooth sections covered most of the outer hull with only the occasional antenna or weapon port sticking out. At first glance it didn't look like a ship for fighting but Zim knew better, he had armed it to the teeth. Lasers, rockets, particle cannons, you name it and it was installed. Gaz "so what is its name?" Zim was confused "name, what do you mean?" Gaz "you haven't named it yet? Ooh you need to name it, usually guys pick girl names for their ships and cars." She thought for a moment "ooh you should call it Dark Mistress, it's sexy." Zim considered it, he honestly didn't understand why he should name his ship but he didn't see much reason why not too. "ok ill call it Dark Mistress" he grabbed a nearby bot and gave it a quick set of instructions, then watched as it went to the front of the ship and began painting the new name on the side. Gaz smiled at him, and he motioned for her to follow.

Zim lead her to one of his smaller flyers, it had enough room for a pilot in the front and either cargo or a passenger in back. Sleek black wings swept backwards like a large boomerang, giving it the look of a manta ray. He pushed a button next to the cockpit and it hissed open, displaying dark purple interior with hundreds of small dials and buttons. Zim climbed into the pilots seat and motioned for Gaz to hop into the passenger seat, she gingerly stepped inside and Zim was rewarded with a clear view of her panties as she stepped up and in. Blushing he activated the startup controls, the engine whirred to life. He sealed the cockpit and pushed the remote controls for the hangar doors. A portion of the ceiling above them opened up and he angled the flyer straight up, hearing a gasp from Gaz. Zim got a mischievous grin "hold on, it's going to be an impressive launch." Before she could respond he punched the engines to maximum, they accelerated at intense speeds making it out of the hangar and high into the air before he even heard her second gasp. He wasn't sure why but he loved that sound.

Zim brought the ship to hover directly above the hangar doors as they closed below, giving Gaz a chance to look around and get settled. Pure wonder was plastered across her features "wow that was so fast! How high are we flying?" Zim "only three thousand feet, I'm putting the cloak up now." Gaz grabbed onto the back of his seat and pulled herself forward putting her face next to his, his chest started pounding and it started getting hot in that tiny ship. Gaz pointed down to the city below "That's my old house. This is so cool Zim." He felt a surge of happiness "Zim is glad you are happy Gaz, where is your new house?" She chuckled and gave him the address, he brought up a holographic map and it set a waypoint. He set off, accelerating at a slower pace so Gaz would have no trouble staying where she was. The flight only took ten minutes but to Zim it felt like ten seconds, Gaz was excitedly pointing out landmarks and places she had been before and he was just enjoying her touch and the sound of her voice. At one point he had flown low enough that they could almost touch the tops of buildings, Gaz would laugh as their jet-wash would hit someone and make them drop something or cause a ladies dress to flare up.

All too soon it was over and Zim was bringing the vessel down to land in her backyard. Once he opened the cockpit Gaz gave him a light kiss on the cheek "That's a thank you for flying me around, that was awesome." With that she hopped out of the flyer and walked to her back door, Zim felt like his face was on fire and was positive that he had the dumbest grin on his face but he didn't care. Gaz was opening the door when she turned back to him "are you coming or what?" Zim needed no further prompting as he leapt out of the cockpit and practically sprinted to catch up. He followed her through the first floor and up the stairs, she was about to open her door when she stopped suddenly and started blushing. Zim "is something wrong Gaz, your face is turning red." Gaz "nothing, absolutely nothing is wrong but you have to stay here." She pointed to his feet "stay right there, I'll be back." Zim watched as she opened the door just enough to slip through. He sighed with disappointment, _**Blast, I really wanted to see the room of the Gaz.**_ Curiosity overcoming him Zim closed his eyes relying completely on his antenna. At first he could barely picture small movements and vibrations, slowly more and more became clear. He didn't truly see her instead he felt her movements as she interacted with the room around her.

She was grabbing things off of her floor and tossing them into a chest and some containers, Zim was confused. He tried to figure out what she was doing and she shoved a large pile under her bed, _**she is either cleaning her room or setting a trap to ensnare Zim and do wicked evil things to him.**_ He weighed both possibilities in his mind, _**either is acceptable.**_ He couldn't help but smile at his strange feelings toward Gaz, he wasn't quite sure what it was but he was positive he wanted to feel this way. He was startled, his eyes snapping open, when the door flew open. Gaz stood with one hand on her hip and the other on the doorframe "Come on in Zim." He didn't have to be asked twice, and quickly followed her inside. She spun around, Zim almost running into her, and held out her hand. Somewhat confused Zim raised his own, she grabbed it and took hold of his watch. Twisting it she shut off his holographic costume, revealing his normal scarred flesh "Much better" Zim smiled. She pointed to the edge of her bed "you can sit there." He did as she said, his eyes darting around the room taking in every detail. To him it was a small window into the soul of Gaz and he was determined to know everything he could about her. She coughed drawing his attention back to her "Zim I need a little help with something, can you do me a favor?" _**I would move the planets at your whim**_ "Sure Gaz, what do you need?"

She smiled her intoxicating smile and Zim felt his chest begin pounding "It's nothing too big, I just need an opinion on a few outfits is all." Zim blushed, not quite sure what this meant but very willing to find out, and nodded his assent. Gaz's smile widened "ok stay right there" with that she retreated into a large walk in closet, closing the door behind her. _**She is dressing and Undressing in there,**_ he felt his body getting aroused at the thought and couldn't help himself as once again he closed his eyes. Her movements were much harder to 'see' but after a few moments he got the idea of what she was doing. Walking up and down the closet she seemed to be choosing items and placing them near the door, he concentrated harder trying to get a clearer picture as she took off her jacket and shirt. Then she pulled down her skirt, followed by her leggings, Zim could feel a burning sensation in his body it was almost a physical need to touch her. He gripped onto her bed, trying to calm his instincts. He didn't want to do anything to ruin what time he had with Gaz.

Next she removed her underwear, tossing her bra away and dropping her panties. Zim had never seen a female, of either species, naked before and his imagination went wild trying to conjure up images. He 'watched' as she grabbed some sort of tight pants and pulled them up her athletic legs. She had to pause at the bottom of her ass, shifting her grip then yanking them the rest of the way up. She threw on a top, her chest pulling it taut as she pulled it down. She turned around and Zim opened his eyes, greatly anticipating actually seeing her. The door opened slowly and Gaz stepped out barefoot wearing tight black jeans that rested low on her hips, they revealed the lower section of her abs. Zim could feel the blood flowing to his erection, her shirt was a thin white fabric with simple designs on the front. _**No underwear,**_ her nipples were almost visible through the top, Zim resisted the urge to leap onto her and make her his. She spun around "so do you like it?" Zim tried to form words for a second as Gaz looked him up and down, a wicked smile appeared on her face as her eyes lingered on his crotch. "I'll take that as a compliment, next outfit then." With that she stepped back into the closet, Zim could hear giggling through the door.

_**She is toying with me,**_ he glanced down at the bulge in his pants _**and she knows what she is doing. Does she want this, **_he stood up slowly heading for the closet door _**only one way to find out.**_ Zim knocked gently, Gaz "what is it Zim?" She opened the door and he moved his body so it was almost pressing against hers. Blush crept up her face as he brought his close "Gaz is toying with Zim, this is dangerous. Gaz might not like what she has begun." Zim wrapped his arms around her torso, pulling her into his body. Their lips almost touching Gaz replied in a whisper "Gaz might love it" she pushed forward kissing Zim with desire and he held her close. One hand reaching up behind her head Zim returned her passion, his segmented tongue intertwining with hers. Her hands grabbed onto his back, her fingers practically clawing his flesh, heightening his excitement. Going purely on instinct Zim reached down lifting Gaz up by her ass, she wrapped her legs around his hips as their tongues continued their game of cat and mouse.

Zim moved her to the bed, releasing her mouth so he could kiss down her neck. Soft coo's of pleasure escaped her lips with each kiss. Laying her down upon the bed Zim released her from his grip and pulled up, drinking her in with his eyes. Taking the opportunity Gaz grabbed his shirt and began pulling it over his head, he assisted and once it was off she tossed it across the room. A flicker of fear traveled through Zim, _**I am a monster and an alien Gaz will not like what she sees**_. He hesitantly glanced to her face, all fear melting away the instant he saw her eyes. She was looking at him with a hunger, pure desire etched into her features. He gave in then, he wanted her more than anything and he was going to have her. Leaning forward Zim placed his lips on her stomach, kissing up her abdomen as he slowly pushed her shirt up exposing her bare chest. He ran his tongue along the outer surface of her chest, taking a moment to enjoy the taste of her skin before selecting a nipple to toy with. Gaz moaned as his tongue touched her aroused nipples, arching her back and pushing her chest into his face. Taking full advantage Zim slid his right arm under her back supporting her while he gave her teat small bites, enjoying every gasp and moan Zim could feel his erection screaming to be free.

_**Patience body, Gaz-mate first then Zim.**_ He placed his left hand on her hip, running his fingers along the edge of her pants. Unbuttoning her pants Zim shifted his attentions to her other nipple, alternating between sucking and biting. Slowly sliding down the zipper he placed his hand onto her stomach and gently eased his way into her pants, _**No panties.**_ Shivers ran down his spine at the thought and he released her sensitive nipple to kiss her. Her arms grabbed onto his body pulling his head against hers, instinct fueling their kiss, her nails digging into his should. The pain only increased his arousal as he slid his hand over her mound and onto her heat. She was slick with arousal; he ran his fingers around her lips, exploring her entrance before slipping a finger inside. Her entire body tensed and she moaned loudly into his mouth, he pulled his face away moving down to her neck. Her breathing was heavy and he could feel her hot blood pumping under her skin, he bit down onto her neck. Being careful not to bite too hard Zim worked his way down her neck to her collar, while his finger fluttered in and out of her sex.

Gaz moaned in-between heavy breaths, her hips grinding onto his hand trying to force his finger deeper. Her hand slid up the back of Zims neck onto his head before running along the length of one antenna. Pleasure shot through Zim's body causing him to bite down on the meat of her shoulder, hard. Two of his teeth pierced skin causing tiny drops of blood to form on her skin, neither of them cared as Zim licked the red liquid from her shoulder. With a sudden desire to taste her Zim pulled his hand out from her pants, Gaz mewled with desire as he set her back down and pulled off her pants. Gaz almost tore off her shirt throwing it across the room as Zim lifted her hips, positioning her sex in front of his face. He inhaled deeply, his senses absorbing her scent, before gently licking her bud. Gaz practically screamed with pleasure, curling her toes as her legs dangled over his shoulders. Putting his mouth upon her sex Zim circled her sensitive bud with his tongue and gently sucked. This brought Gaz over the edge as she arched her back and gripped Zim's head with her thighs, bucking against his face as an orgasm racked her body.

Once she relaxed Zim placed her back down, licking his lips and enjoying her taste, he stood undoing the button on his slacks. Gaz stared as his pants slid to the floor revealing his erection, Zim could only smile as the look of hunger returned to her eyes. She sat up as he kneeled back onto the bed, he bent down to kiss her as her hands began stroking the length of his shaft. Gaz shifted his weight, he didn't resist, and changed positions with him sitting on the edge of the bed and her straddling him. She lined him up and slowly brought her body down, gasping as he entered her. Zim growled with pleasure as she brought her body further down, he felt resistance inside her for a second then she slid down all the way. A sudden look of pain flashing across her face, concerned Zim started to say something, but she placed a finger over his mouth. Gaz began rocking her body against his, her look of pain slowly fading to one of pleasure. He grabbed her hips and began thrusting up, causing her to bounce on his erection. Her chest was too tempting a target as they bounced in front of his face, and his mouth latched onto a nipple.

Their moans of pleasure mixed with the wet sounds of lovemaking, the feeling of warmth inside her was better than anything Zim had experienced before. As his thrusting intensified Gaz wrapped her arms around his head, pressing her chest into his face. She ran one hand up an antenna, placing the tip into her mouth. Zim almost lost control, the feeling of her tongue running the length of his antenna then the warmth of her mouth and slight pressure of her sucking on it flipped a primal switch in his brain. Lifting her off the bed, keeping himself inside, he turned over pinning her against the bed as he began thrusting like an animal into her. Their breathing was heavy and sweat covered their skin as their coupling intensified, Zim felt a strange warmth running up his spine. Gaz moaned loudly as her sex started tightening around his erection, he felt his seed bubbling forth as her body tensed from her second orgasm. Squirting deep inside her Zim fell forward, their bodies intertwined they passed out still connected.

-End of Chapter 6-

Note: next few chapters might be a while in coming, having hard drive problems. hopefully everything will be good soon.


	7. Chapter 7

Notes: ok so my previous note about chapters not getting posted quickly might have been.. well wrong. Things are sort of working and hopefully don't go down again. But if they do know that I am still writing and will post as soon as possible.

Second Note: Saber Wars is NOT star wars, Gir is NOT humming the Star Wars theme, I am NOT being Sarcastic *exaggerated wink*

Disclaimer: nope, don't own star wars. Some Lucas guy does.

-Chapter 7, Surprises-

-POV++Dib++POV-

Dib strolled through the empty halls of Zims base, whistling a song and feeling very pleased with himself. He had the command program in hand, Zim and Gaz were away and he had all the time he needed to ensure humanity would win and both the Irken and Zim would meet a grisly fate. He rounded the corner into the control center, grabbing a rolling chair he sat down and slid to the nearest computer access port. Feeling giddy Dib attached his tablet and began uploading the program, he decided to look around Zims system for a bit while everything got set. Several programs piqued his interest, he opened one labeled Nano-Forge. A readout of a factory section, that was actually fairly close to the control center, displayed across the screen. Dib looked through the controls, bringing up a small menu of items. One looked like some sort of weapon and he clicked on it, nothing happened so he clicked again. He frowned,_** so much for that,**_ he was about to close the program when a message popped up. 'Production Complete' Dib once again checked the location of the factory, memorizing the path he hopped out of his chair and walked down several hallways until he came to the right door.

It hissed open and Dib was astounded by what he saw, a massive set of machines dominated the room, with two sections with small work stations and a large table in-between them. On the table rested what looked like two rifles, Dib grabbed one and tested its weight. It wasn't heavy by any standard and was fairly comfortable to hold, though the larger trigger was slightly awkward. He aimed at a blank section of wall and fired, a dark red beam sliced through the air burning a hole in the wall. Dib was so surprised he almost dropped the rifle, a wicked smile appeared on his face. _**Oh now I can do some real good,**_ he dropped the rifle back onto the table and went back to the control center. His command program temporarily forgotten he set about transferring the control program for the Forge to his tablet. He brought up hundreds of different schematics, searching for the one that would make all the difference. Finally he found it, clicking on create Dib was almost ecstatic as he practically ran back to the forge. High pitched whines and low rumbles assaulted his ears as the doors opened, and from one section of the forge he saw the literal skeleton of his device being made as if from thin air.

His eyes wide with wonder Dib studied every detail as the machine was made from the inside out. Scrap materials were loaded into bins on the outside of the machine and as pieces started shrinking and disappearing from the piles the object was created with them as building blocks. Finally it was finished and his Portable Nano-Forge was complete, with almost religious reverence Dib picked up the machine. _**This is my key to victory, all I need to do is get it to the right people.**_ Dib hauled the Forge with him back to the control room when he remembered Gir, he set down the forge and went back to the storage room. Walking to the back of the room he located the box he had placed Girs corpse in, pulling out a knife he cut the tape and opened the box. Terror streaked through Dib, the box was empty. He flipped it over, the bottom had been cut open. Frantically Dib looked around the room looking for some clue as to where Gir went, then he saw it. up in the corner of the room by the door was a small black ball, a camera, that could only mean one thing. _**Zim knows.**_ Dib panicked, sprinting back to the control center he grabbed the micro forge and ran to the lift.

The wait for the lift and then while he was rising back to the house felt like an eternity to Dib as he was sure some sort of trap was waiting for him. To his relief he made it out of Zims house with no issues, jumping into his car and throwing the forge into the passenger seat Dib peeled out. Driving well over the speed limit Dib didn't care as he tried to think of a destination in his mind. He would have to find one of his contacts, how he didn't know but they were his only chance.

-POV++Gaz++POV-

She felt warm skin against her own, and heard a soft breathing. Slowly opening her eyes she saw green, memories flashed before her and she smiled. Lifting her head she glanced around, her bed was in shambles with Zim lying on his back sleeping soundly and she was lying mostly on top of him. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she did remember being with him and the pleasure. She shifted her weight, getting more comfortable when Zim began to stir. Gaz ran a finger along his jaw line, causing him to open his eyes lazily, Zim smiled and Gaz felt butterflies through her body. Zim "good morning Gaz-Mate." Gaz blinked at him "what did you call me?" Zim smiled wide "you are now Zims mate, forever mine." He pulled her tight against his body, _**forever?**_ Gaz smiled and nuzzled into his side, tears streaming down her face. Zim, his voice filled with concern, "Gaz-Mate are you hurt, is something wrong, you leak fluids from your eyes." She couldn't help but laugh "No Zim I'm happy, they are tears." She raised her face to look him in the eyes "tears of joy you silly green man you." His smile returned and she kissed him, a simple kiss filled with caring.

Zims watched beeped, Gaz "what's that?" Zim turned off the noise "it is an alarm Gaz-Mate, this is when a man of delivery is supposed to show and give Zim a package. It is a fairly important package, has many useful materials for my drones." Gaz nodded, looking around the room "well then we should probably head back to your place Zim, my idiot brother has probably broken the stove or something." she stood up and went over to her dresser, picking through several pairs of underwear until she found a black and red lacy thong with matching strapless bra. Zim "ooh those colors will look good on Gaz-mates silky skin." She blushed at the compliment and put them on, glancing in the mirror she decided she did look good in red and black. Zim stood and grabbed his clothing, he started dressing while she went into her closet to pick out a real outfit. Selecting a pair of purple tights under a shredded pair of black jeans with a black plain tank top, she threw them on and went back out to Zim.

Zim looked her up and down "I like naked Gaz better." She laughed "well naked Gaz is for private and we are about to go into public." She walked over to him as he was turning on his disguise, placing her hands on his chest and putting her face close to his "I like naked Zim better too, oh and you definitely pass 'inspection'." They kissed then Zim finished dressing and they headed back out to the flyer. Zim hopped into the pilots seat and began starting up the engine, Gaz had a wicked idea and hopped in his lap. Zim "Gaz, this is not passenger seat. It will be very hard for me to fly like this." Gaz "your right, this isn't the passenger seat, it's the Mate seat and don't worry you'll just have to teach me how to fly it." Zim buried his face into the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine "Gaz-Mate has a good point, will show you how to fly."

He kissed her cheek before closing the cockpit, pointing out different controls he gave her a quick rundown of how the ship operated. Gaz was getting excited, it was very similar to her Space Warrior game on her Game-Slave. Slowly she throttled up, the ship began to rise into the air. Testing a few controls she brought the flyer slowly out of her backyard and around the house, pointing the nose in a more or less straight line back to Zim's. With a mischievous grin on her face she punched the speed, the vessel blasted forward at incredible speeds pressing her back into Zim. She flew up into the sky, using the open air to get used to the controls before zooming along near ground level. She blasted through streets and past people, sending items flying through the air just from her shockwave. All the while Zim smiled and held onto her, seeming content with her joy.

Though she was going much faster than Zim had on their way to her house it took them almost forty minutes longer to get back to the base. She slowed as they flew over, and something strange stood out to her. _**His car is gone,**_ she didn't mention anything about it, hopeful that Dib had just gone to get some coffee or something. She was trying so hard to believe that he wasn't off ruining everything all over again, _**I swear if he tries anything I'm going to kill him.**_ She put the vessel down through the launch tube and back into the hangar. Slightly apprehensive she followed Zim as he headed back to the control room.

-POV++Dib++POV-

Dib sped through the town, ignoring red lights and stop signs alike. He cruised along until he was well outside of the city limits, calming down he glanced into the sky. A black helicopter seemed to be flying on a parallel course with him. _**Probably just a news copter checking traffic or something,**_ he tried to dismiss it as he got onto the main highway. Traffic wasn't too bad and the cars were going at a decent clip, Dib checked his rear view mirror seeing the helicopter once more. He frowned, paranoia kicking in he decided to head for the next exit. Changing lanes he saw several black sedans behind him follow suit. Adrenaline kicking in Dib swerved through cars, speeding up and trying to lose the other vehicles. His geo metro was no match for their beefed up cars, they easily closed the distance. Dib took the next exit into a small town, seeing five cars follow him he ran through red lights and sped around corners desperate to lose his mysterious pursuers.

He took a fast turn down a tight alley, hoping that their cars wouldn't be able to fit. Unfortunately for him one pulled up at the exit, blocking him in. Men in suits got out of the cars, almost a dozen of them made their way up to his car. Knowing he had no escape Dib did the only thing he could think of, he surrendered. The men handcuffed him and put him in one of the cars, confiscated all of his items and grabbed the Forge as well. They left the geo-metro sitting in the alley, still running.

-POV++Gaz++POV-

Zim seemed on edge as they entered the control room, things were out of place. Even Gaz noticed that screens were open and running and a chair had been knocked over. Zim walked over to his command chair, sitting down and bringing up a video display. It showed Dib walking around the control room, plugging his tablet in and messing with all kinds of stuff, Gaz was furious _**I fucking knew he would do something stupid.**_ Gaz "did he do anything bad Zim?" Zim turned to her and smiled "I made sure earlier that he couldn't do anything really damaging, your brother has been trying to sabotage my base ever since the two of you first showed up. He even tried to destroy Gir, too bad for him he only hit Gir in the head. He should have known that there is nothing important in there." Gaz was fuming _**that lying bastard, if I ever catch up with him again I am going to make him regret being born.**_

Zim seemed unconcerned about it though "do not worry Gaz-Mate, I made sure he could not damage my ship or my drones. I would not be too mad at the puny Dib-Thing." Gaz had to calm herself before responding "why not Zim, he lied to you and used your kindness for his own twisted goals. He lied to me and tried to make me go along with him, so why shouldn't I be too mad at him?" Zim "because, he does this to protect humans, he is evil and sneaky and foolish yes. But he is trying to do something good, isn't that something?" Gaz thought about it for a minute, then agreed with him, trying to calm herself down. Gaz "well I guess I won't try to kill him if I see him, but I'm very angry with him and I'll probably beat him to a bloody pulp." Zim chuckled "Good, I want to inflict much pain upon him too. Luckily for him Zim is in the best mood ever, and is very forgiving."

Gaz was about to respond when they heard the hangar doors opening and loud banging coming from the hallways. Coming through the walls there was someone shouting, they could barely make out the noises through the halls and doors but as it got closer they could make out Gir's voice. Gir "Dun dun-dun-dun dun, dun dun-dun-dun dun, dun dun-dun DUN dun-Dun dun DUN-DUN!" Gaz recognized the tune, it was from the popular Saber Wars movies. Most of the larger Dun's were accented by Gir slamming into walls. Gir finally made it to the control room, but he was using his rockets and flying way too fast to stop under his own power. Bits of concrete and metal cracked away as Gir slammed head first into the wall, his head stuck into the hard structure he wiggled helplessly. Zim sighed heavily and went over to Gir, yanking him out of the wall.

Gir saluted Zim "I did as you said master, I followed the dib human and he did many things!" Zim waited patiently for a few moments before prompting "like?" Gir "like what master? I like taaaacoo's." Zim "No you blasted robot, what did Dib do!" Gir "Oh first he went running around the base, like Whoosh Whoosh, then he we driving around the city like ZOOOOOOOOM." Gir began running around in circles with his arms straight out to his sides "Then he was all Woah! And the other guys were like all Ooooh, then it was all AHHHHHH and then I got a donut." Gaz thought it was hilarious but Zim was far less amused, he grabbed Gir and sat him down. Pulling a cord from one of the monitors he shoved it into the back of Girs head. The screen went fuzzy for a minute before images of Dib appeared on the screen. Zim skipped through everything in the base, and played through Dib driving until the black cars showed up. That section Gaz watched with interest, she might be furious with him but he was still her brother. Gaz "Zim we have to help him."

Zim nodded "okay Gaz-Mate we will help him but first we need to find out where they have taken him." She watched as he began pushing buttons and a large map of the area displayed on the main monitor, a small red dot moved about the map until it landed on a building in another town. Zim "there he is." Gaz "how do you know where he is?" Zim "oh I placed a tracking chip into the meat of his butt cheek one night while he was sleeping here." Gaz nodded her head then paused, "wait… did you put a chip in my butt cheek?" Zim looked at her and smiled "no of course not." She was relieved until he added "that would have been far too sexual and I didn't know you that well at the time, yours is in your thigh." She spun around and tackled him "What? You put some sort of chip in me without asking first!" Zim "it was a safety precaution, hey don't hit me there its sensitive!"

Their fun was interrupted by loud alarms going off throughout the base, they looked at each other in surprise then Zim hopped back into his command chair. Gaz stood up and watched with keen interest at what he was doing "what do the alarms mean Zim." He seemed very worried and that made her afraid, Zim "this is bad Gaz-Mate, very bad." Gaz "What?" Zim pointed at the large screen in front of them, it was images of earth and the moon, Gaz squinted at the image. There were other objects too almost like little rocks all over the two planets, then she saw them clearly. _**Oh god, the Irken Fleet is here.**_

-End of chapter 7-


	8. Chapter 8

Notes: many thanks to all those who review. Reviews, good or bad, are what keep me motivated to write these chapters.

-Chapter 8, Conflict-

-POV++Zim++POV-

Zims fingers raced across the consol, _**they were early.**_ He brought up sensor readings, early warning beacons, all of the safeguards he had put into play to warn of the invasion. They were all gone, deleted, Zim cursed. Gaz "what happened, why are they here so early?" Zim slammed a fist into the desk next to him, denting the metal "they must have conquered a race with improved space flight." Gaz looked at him with confusion so he explained "Irken don't come up with new technology, well I do now but that's due to de-evolving, instead they take technology from the people they conquer." Gaz nodded "But how did you not know they were flying here faster?" Zim "your idiotic brother is why" he turned his screen displaying log in records. Zim "here, the fool hacked into my base systems yesterday. In his fumbling attempts to navigate my systems he deleted or corrupted hundreds of programs. The moron, if I had known yesterday that they were so much closer then at least we might have been able to prepare." Punching in a series of keys, Zim brought up a list of programs. Several of them highlighted red, indicating that they were missing. Zim released a tense breath "at least he didn't delete any of the drone programming or the ships systems." He turned around and looked to Gaz "because of his ignorant attempts to usurp my systems, humanity doesn't stand a chance against this invasion. Even with my help this planet is doomed."

Gaz had a look of horror on her face, mingling with the pain of loss "we have to at least try to do something." Zim had hoped she wouldn't say that, this planet was doomed as was anyone who stayed. Zim nodded "we will do everything we can Gaz-Mate." He stood and wrapped his arms around her, comforting her and allowing her to hope. Zim gently released her "we have to act fast then, stay here for a moment I need to go ready the drones." She nodded at him and he took off at a slow Jog down several hallways, ending at a reinforced metal door. Zim entered several codes and was subjected to a hand scan and retinal scan before the door hissed open. He stepped into a pitch black room, electrical whirring started in the far corner of the room and halogen lights kicked on section by section. Revealing hundreds of drones, lined up neat like soldiers at a parade. He sprinted past the bulk of the drones, small spider like robots outfitted with lasers, shields and wicked points at the ends of their legs. Only stopping once he reached the larger drones in the back, these were easily the size of an SUV, they closely resembled beetles and had dozens of small appendages extending from their bellies.

Standing on six massive metal legs, these were his command drones, their job was to monitor and control the smaller ones while taking metal and scrap and making new drones. These would buy them a little time, but eventually even Irken would figure out how to defeat them. He ran up to a small control panel in the side of the first 'beetle' drone, powering up its systems and entering a basic survival program before moving on to the next. He had very little time and an astounding amount of work to do.

-POV++Gaz++POV-

Gaz paced back and forth, unsure of what she should or even could do to help. _**Maybe Zims computer has something we can use**_, she sat in his control chair staring at the Irken symbols and wishing they were in English. _**Wait, he spoke to the computer in English maybe I can do the same.**_ Gaz "Computer?" Computer "yes Human Gaz." She smiled, surprised that it worked "Bring up all the files in Zims database that were affected by Dib." Computer "Clarify, would you like system files, game files, invasion files, doomsday files, surveillance files, programming files or command files?" She blinked, _**Doomsday files?**_ Gaz "uhm doomsday files please." A list of items in Irken appeared on the screen, she cursed. Gaz "computer, can you translate them into English?" Computer "certainly, all you needed to do was ask human Gaz." The screen flashed off then reappeared displaying in English. She scrolled through them, scanning through short descriptions of each. There were maybe two dozen plans to destroy the earth in Zims files, most were outlandish and silly. There were several involving pushing the earth out of orbit and into either the sun or other planets, some were based around infecting the atmosphere with mutagens causing the plants to all die off.

She checked the dates on each entry, none of them had been accessed in over eight years. _**These must be from when Zim first landed on the planet, during his time trying to take over.**_ Gaz "Computer are there any Doomsday files that weren't affected by Dib?" The display changed, only one entry remained. It was titled 'Never Surrender'. Apparently it was a fall back plan for Zims invasion, if humanity had been too advanced for him he was under orders to Detonate the Sun. Gaz held her breath, _**what would that even do to the earth?**_ Gaz "Computer can you run a simulation of this doomsday plan in action?" Computer "easily, silly earth being." The display changed once more, showing a small rocket flying through space then entering the burning surface of the sun. For several moments nothing happened and Gaz almost felt disappointed, until the suns surface began collapsing in on itself. This caused a chain reaction amongst the planets, sucking each of them closer and closer until they were crushed into the suns surface. Gaz realized what she was watching, the creation of a black hole.

Terror gripped her heart, quickly she checked the date on the file. She sighed in relief, last time it had been opened was eight years ago. Same as the others, maybe he had just forgotten about the plans during his time here. Gaz "Computer, mark this file as damaged too." Computer "if you say so." _**Thank you Gir for the security clearance.**_ She heard Zim returning, and got up out of the chair. He came running down the hall, Gaz "did you get everything done?" Zim nodded "Yes Gaz-Mate, my drones are active and heading out. Hopefully they will get to the surface in time to meet the initial assault wave." He sat down, she watched with apprehension as he called up the damaged programs once more. Zim "I need to see if he damaged anything else that might be useful." He scrolled through section after section, muttering 'useless' or 'worthless' as he finished each section. Gaz tensed as he got to the doomsday section but he passed right by with a simple 'useless'. She let out a long sigh, Zim turned around "are you all right Gaz-Mate?"

She smiled at him "I'm fine now, just a little overwhelmed is all." He nodded, resuming and completing his scan. As Zim stood he yelled "Gir". Loud squealing could be heard as the robot-dog ran haphazardly through the halls. Gir stopped directly in front of Zim, with several of his body parts re-arranged. Zim stared at the robot, his mouth moving but no words coming out. Gir "yes master?" placing a hand upon his forehead Zim tried to control his temper "Gir, what happened to your limbs?" Gir "I was playing Twister master, it was oh so fun." Gaz had to hold in her laughter, Zim was turning ever darker shades of green as he tried to control his anger. Zim "Gir, do you remember the 'toys' I made for you last week?" Gir "of course I don't master." Gaz was becoming concerned as the veins in Zims head seemed ready to burst out. Zim "Gir, the special 'toys' I told you to keep safe because we would need them soon?" Gir shook his head violently for a few moments before responding "Oh yes master, the big metal toys!" Zim smiled "good, now go and get them." Gir "go where master?" Zim "go where ever it is that you put them and grab them, then come back to me." Gir "put what master?"

That was when Zim lost it, yelling at the top of his lungs "GIR GO GET THE DAMN WEAPONS I MADE YOU AND COME BACK TO ME WITH THEM, GO NOW YOU USELESS PILE OF SCRAP!" Gir shot off like a bullet, straight through a section of wall. Gaz walked over to Zim, placing a hand on his back. Zim visibly calmed at her touch "he is useless Gaz-Mate, that means we will have to do it ourselves." He turned around to face her "do you know how to fight Gaz-Mate?" Gaz raised an incredulous eyebrow at him "Zim, I was born to kick ass."

-POV++Dib++POV-

He was sitting in a small room, a single bright light in the center that illuminated a plain white table directly under it. His chair was cold and hard, he was not at all happy. The men in black had dragged him to some abandoned building at the edge of the city. Down several flights of stairs everything had changed from rustic condemned building to high tech laboratory. They had been interrogating him ever since, he didn't know how much time had passed. They always asked him the same questions, always accusing him of starting outlandish rumors. The door opened and a new man stepped through, _**here we go again**_. The new guy was bald, well groomed and wore the same black suit. He sat in the chair across from Dib and placed a large folder onto the table.

Mister G "hello there," he quickly scanned through the file "mister Dib. I am Mister G, how are you feeling?" Dib fought the urge to scream in the mans face, he did that last time and al it got him was silence. Dib "oh I'm just peachy, I'm kidnapped by guys with bad fashion taste. I'm being held captive in some strange underground facility and the technology I stole to save the earth is probably being taken apart and studied uselessly. How are You feeling Mister G?" Dib crossed his Arms. Mister G "tell me mister Dib, how did you come to be in possession of such advanced technology? Did you get it from the Chinese, or maybe the Russians? This will all be so much easier once you tell us the truth mister Dib." Dib wanted to punch the man "I got it from an Alien, I got it to stop an impending Alien Invasion. I have told you guys this a thousand times!"

Mister G opened the file once more "yes, little green men are going to invade from outer space. Let's see, their weaknesses are: Water, meat and beans?" Dib nodded "yes, as I have been trying to tell you." Mister G closed the file and crossed his hands "mister Dib, you will have to do better than that. We know there are no such things as aliens, and we know that you have advanced technology. This of course means that you are a spy." Dib was about to respond when the door Burst open, another agent yelled into the room "Dave, Come quick. The psycho kid was right, there are aliens invading!" Dib looked at 'Dave' before they both got up and ran to follow the agent.

-POV++Gaz++POV-

She had been watching the invasion for what felt like hours, but in reality only a few minutes had passed since the first wave had landed. Zim was readying some strange machine and she had nothing else to help with. So she watched as hundreds of tiny Irken warriors gunned down innocent civilians, guns were useless against the invaders and anything that could hurt them was quickly destroyed by their superior numbers. She turned away as a group of invaders found a school, not wanting to witness the carnage that followed. Tears welling up in her eyes she went over towards Zim, need his proximity to help give her strength.

She was lucky, as he was almost done when she got to him, Zim "Gaz-mate, take off your clothes and step into the pod." She blushed but did as he said, the pod was warm inside and made a light humming sound. Zim "see the circles on the ground and the wall on either side of you?" Gaz nodded, Zim "Good, place your feet and hands on them please." Gaz did what he said, small lights kicked on all around the pod sending beams to trace along her skin. Wherever the beams touched her flesh a light black material was left, it started off slow then sped up until she could barely see the beams flashing across her body. Within moments she was covered, fingers toes and all. Everything up to her neck was fitted with a skin tight black material, Zim "stay still, now I'm going to add the armored layer and the weapons." With that small arms came out from the pods walls, running along the length of her torso they applied a second layer that was much thicker then the first. They repeated this process on her back, arms and legs.

Then they were replaced by spinning appendages, rotating around her feet and hands they applied a metallic coating up to her knees and elbows, then a set came out from the ceiling and applied the same metal to her abdomen and chest. Once they finished she felt a pressure against her back, followed by a clicking sound. Her armor powered up, glowing light blue and the pod opened letting her out. The outfit was much lighter then she had expected, and even seemed to enhance her movements. Zim smiled at her and handed her a thin visor, that she gently placed on her head. Zim "ok Gaz-Mate, this suit is pretty advanced. I have been working on this machine for a very long time, the chest piece houses a power core and shield unit to protect you against the Irken Lasers and weapons. The shield won't protect against physical attacks so you must remember to dodge those, the boots and gauntlets and enhanced with energy. This means your stronger and faster, so make good use of them. Oh and Irken shields work the same exact way as mine, they can deflect a lot of weapons but not physical attacks." Gaz nodded, a smile of excitement creeping onto her face.

Zim plugged several sets of commands into the console before stripping down and getting in the tube. Gaz watched as the same basic process had him covered with the thin and armored membranes within a minute. His armor looked significantly different from hers, instead of the arms and legs being sleek versions of his actual body, it was much thicker and bulkier. The forearm was much wider then his hands, and he had sections that looked like power cords running from his forearms to his chest. On his back were several nozzles that could have belonged on a space ship, his outfit had a red glow to it. when he stepped out he went over to a small compartment in the machine and pulled out a set of goggles, placing them over his eyes he smiled at Gaz. She stared in wonder "Zim why is yours so much different from mine?"

Zim "that's simple, you have skill fighting with your body. I on the other hand have skill fighting with lasers and guns. Your unit therefore has a shielding unit to protect you from ranged weapons and enhanced physical abilities. Mine is based on ranged damage and has jets to help me stay away from large threats." Gaz nodded "I thought lasers wouldn't work against the shields." Zims smiled spread across his face, lighting up like a child on Christmas "Well normally shields work very well against lasers and other energy weapons, but since Irken only use scavenged technology it means I know exactly how their shields and energy weapons work. Using this information I was able to adapt my weapons to peirce their shields and my shields to stop their weapons." His toothy grin was infectious as Gaz found herself smiling, Zim "Brilliant isn't it!" She nodded "ok one last question, how come I don't get cool jets?" Zim "because with your weaker human bone structure your skeleton would liquefy as the jets built up power, then your squishy flap like body would impact the nearest object splattering like a plump tomato." Gaz "oh"

-End of Chapter 8-


	9. Chapter 9

Notes: Songs that help with generating kick-ass-ery: I Can Walk On Water, by Basshunter. Blown Away, by Carrie Underwood. Undead, by Hollywood Undead. Run This Town, by Jay-Z. and Omen, by MT Eden.

Disclaimer: there is some messed up stuff in this chapter and probably the next chapters, its gory and wicked, not to mention twisted and sick… Enjoy.

-Chapter 9, Warfare-

-POV++Dib++POV-

The Nano-Forge had been running nonstop ever since the invasion started, Dib had lost count of how many rifles he had made but still didn't think they had enough. _**Damn you Zim, liar you said we had weeks. **_The fury he felt at Zim's obvious betrayal was only enhanced when he thought of Gaz. She was stuck somewhere with Zim at the bastards mercy, he fumed silently trying to keep his mind on his work. Agents had been running around like crazy, through hundreds of transmissions they had pieced together the initial events of the invasion and they didn't look good. All of the major cities were destroyed, they got hit within minutes of the Irken vessels attaining orbit. They had used massive beam weapons to just glass the major population centers and now they were sending troops in to slaughter the remaining people. They had estimated that over four billion people had died within the first thirty minutes, and the numbers would only rise as the aliens hunted down the remaining survivors.

_**Damn you Zim, Damn you. I will make you pay, this is all your fault and I will make sure you face justice for what you have done. **_Dib "This I swear" the forge beeped, signaling that it had finished another rifle. Dib grabbed it and spun around, ready to hand it off to the next agent. He blinked, there was nobody there, looking around he noticed that he was alone in the room. _**Now is my chance, do not worry sister. I will avenge whatever he did to you, big brother will make everything better.**_ A twisted smile crept onto his face as he shouldered the weapon and headed out the door. He heard shouting from the hallway to his right so he went left, wanting to sneak out as quietly as possible. Taking several wrong turns and backtracking from a dozen dead ends Dib finally managed to make it up several flights and near an exit. He saw sunlight shining through the door on the other end of the hall and started jogging for it, when he heard a small voice "Stop! Who goes there?" Dib spun around, rife at the ready to see a young lady. She must have been eighteen years at the oldest, she was wearing a normal suit top with a long skirt and she was aiming a rifle at him. Her hands were shaking badly "who are you and why are you up here without a badge?"

Dib had to think quickly or this lady could ruin everything, so he slowly lowered his rifle, holding one hand up. Dib "calm down lady, I was sent here to… help. I'm not wearing any badge because I was changing into my civilian clothes right as this happened." She stared at him for a moment and he wasn't sure she would believe him, then she released a long breath and lowered her rifle. Judy "oh thank god, I was so scared you were some sort of alien in disguise or something." she held out her hand "I'm Judy from reception." Dib shook it "nice to meet you Judy, I'm Dib from accounting." He looked around "are you the only one guarding this entrance?" she paled slightly "yeah, there were two others but they got called back to the main gate. I have just been hiding in the alcoves, trying to look as small as possible." Dib nodded and smiled reassuringly at her "well you did a good job, I had no idea you were even there." _**This is taking too long, I need to get out of here now or Zim might get away.**_

Dib turned to look at the door "so we are guarding this door, that's not so bad." Judy nodded, "yeah it's pretty simple. Just don't let anyone in or out of this entrance." Dib nodded "so where do you think we should set up? You seem a little more experience at this then me." Judy smiled at him, taking a little bit of pleasure from being in charge "well I suggest you set up over there at that alcove" she pointed to one a few down on the left. "While I set up over at this alcove" she stepped past him heading for one about the same distance but on the right. Judy "I have to say Dib, having you here really lifts a ton of worry from my shoulders." Dib smiled as he placed the barrel of his rifle between her shoulder blades "Oh don't worry Judy, soon you'll have no worries at all." Dib fired, a red beam shot straight through her chest, leaving a gaping hole that stifled her breath before she had managed to scream. _**Nothing personal, just wrong place wrong time girl.**_

He grabbed her rifle, slinging it over his back and trotted out the exit. _**You're next Zim.**_

-POV++Zim++POV-

The street was a warzone, from the moment they had exited the house Zim and Gaz were fighting. At first Zim had cursed himself a fool, putting Gaz in danger like this but then he saw her fight. It was like watching a tempest in a bottle, grace and destruction melded into one. The Irken that got close to her didn't stand a chance, and he was relieved that her shield worked perfectly. They worked well together, standing back to back so her shield could cover him as well. The two of them guarded each other, Gaz taking out anything that got close and Zim blasting away with abandon. They made little progress until his drones joined the fight. The spider drones were holding their own in combat versus the Irken warriors, lasers and shields doing well due to Zims upgrades, but the real advantage was the Scarab drones. They would gather up any usable scrap and using the Nano-Forges placed inside each of them they would make more Spider drones. Within the hour Zim expected the area to be overrun with his forces.

Luckily for them they were only facing basic soldiers, normal Irken with armor, rifle and Pak. Once the armada unloaded the heavier equipment they would be in trouble. A group of soldiers rounded the corner in front of them and Zim opened up with his lasers, both arms held straight out his gauntlets spit red death at the unfortunate Irken. His gauntlet mounted weaponry was working better than he had hoped, the Gatling lasers used minimal energy while having devastating effect on groups of targets. He had yet to use the photon cannons, and managed to use his jets as little as possible which was doing wonders for his power supply. At the rate he was going his suit wouldn't run out of power for at least four more hours. Gaz ran down the street, stopping at an apartment building before sprinting inside. _**Damn,**_ he knew she wanted to help but Zim knew it would make little difference by the end of the day. _**If it is what Gaz wants to do, then Zim will help.**_ With a burst from his thrusters Zim launched forward crashing through a second story window and coming face to face with five Irken warriors.

Human corpses littered the small apartment, several of them too small to be adults. Two of the Irken launched at Zim, their Pak's spider like legs ready to impale him. Zim used a short burst from his jets to dash to their left, waiting for them to land before peppering them with his laser fire. _**Two down,**_ the other three were more wary of him and split up positioning themselves on different sides of Zim. He smiled at their attempts at strategy, blasting the middle one with his left laser and the right one with his other. _**Three and four,**_ the final Irken made the mistake of latching onto Zims back. He did the sensible thing and kicked on his thrusters, cooking him alive. Zim ran out into the hall, leaving a trail of Irken ashes behind him.

-POV++Gaz++POV-

_**Screaming,**_ she ran through the lower floors. Doors whizzing past her Gaz almost slammed into the corner on her way to the stairs, _**Still not used to the increased speed.**_ She took the stairs five at a time, easily clearing the whole flight in three steps. As she entered the second story hallway, laser fire was absorbed by her shield. Dozens of the Irken soldiers were packed into the tight passage, clinging to the walls and ceiling with their Paks, they seemed to be fighting something on the far end. Gaz lunged forward, her knee cracking into the back of one sending him crashing into several of his comrades, and brought a fist into the face of one dangling from the ceiling. The impact crushed his skull, his face meeting the back of his, sending brain matter in all directions. _**Blegh, disgusting.**_ She still wasn't comfortable killing these little freaks, but she wasn't going to let them hurt any more people if she could help it.

One of the Irken latched onto her and instantly regretted it as she slammed her elbow into its back, a sickening crack resounded as its limp body impacted the floor. She began weaving through the press of Irken, crushing bones and pulping muscle with each strike. _**This armor is the shit,**_ she was easily able to dodge their swings and wasn't even getting tired. She stepped between two, grabbing one by the arm and the other by his head she spun them around slamming them into opposite sides of the wall. One Irken leapt towards her, she bent backwards and kicked up with her leg. Placing all her weight onto her arms she kicked the Irken into the ceiling, sending his head through into the third floor, before she flipped her body back down slamming a heel into the back of a second Irken. As her weight crushed the Pak then the body of the Irken Gaz shot her other foot out pinning another to the wall before sliding it down the wall, leaving a trail of thick pink blood and bits of flesh behind it.

Lasers flew around her, she instinctively covered her face until she realized that they were aimed at the Irken around her. With that she dove forward, ignoring the bulk of Irken around her, closing the distance in seconds. _**Zim,**_ he was busy covering her so he wasn't paying attention to the Irken running up the hallway behind him. Gaz was glad he took such a wide stance when shooting, she rolled between his legs coming up in a fighting crouch just in time to catch an over ambitious Irken mid-leap. Grabbing hold of its leg she slammed it onto the floor, using the momentum she pushed herself into a flying kick which knocked several others back. Red and green lasers flew over Gaz's head, she hopped back placing Zim inside her protective shield while he pointed one arm down each hallway spitting death down both. Zim "Gaz-Mate, we have to get out of this building. They will eventually win through sheer numbers." Gaz nodded but didn't wish to leave until she found who had been screaming, on impulse she went through the open door behind Zim.

Gaz stopped dead in her tracks, _**that's blood on the floor. Human blood,**_ she felt her stomach lurch into her chest. She wanted to retch, looking away from the floor she started seeing the bodies. A few of them were Irken, but most were human and some were very small. _**Children, they fucking cut open children.**_ She felt nauseous, her knees gave out and she barely managed to catch herself with her hands as she fell. The world was spinning, red coated everything. Gaz needed to get out, needed to get away from the blood. She lifted her hands, they were wet, slick red blood dripped freely from her fingers. Gaz Screamed.

-POV++Zim++POV-

Zim was stunned, _**Gaz.**_ He heard her scream, a pure primal terror had ripped out of her throat and it cut Zim to the core. _**Gaz, my Gaz.**_ He spun around, ignoring the myriad of green lasers pelting the hallway around him, and sprinted for her. She had been trying to stand but was going limp, about to crash into the floor. Zim hooked one arm under her scooping her up to his chest and holding her tight as he kicked his thrusters on, blasting through the shattered window. Zim flew her across the street onto a low flat roof, setting her unconscious body down before charging up his photon cannons. Each gauntlet slid forward covering his hands, while a ball of pure purple energy began forming at their center. Dozens of Irken soldiers ran to the window behind them, and Zim could see dozens more rushing up behind them. _**This was going to be good,**_ bringing both arms up level with the window Zim smiled as he saw the looks of realization dawn on the Irken faces. Dual infernos of heat and energy blasted forth, screeching as the superheated photons hungered for any target to unleash their fury.

_**They know their doom,**_ The Irken who saw the plasma were screaming and pushing back against their companions, the others were still ignorantly pushing forward. The first few died instantly, bodies vaporized as the photons sped right through them. Then the orbs detonated, a bright flash followed by silence created an eerie scene as Zim watched the shockwave reduce the building to rock and ash. Then there was overwhelming noise, Zim covered his ears and placed his body over Gaz, Fire and rubble blasted over them. the lip of the roof lasted for a few seconds before Zim felt the heat against his body, then hundreds of small pains as shrapnel impacted his armor. Then it was over, Zim laid there for several long seconds unsure of whether it was really done. Pushing himself up, he surveyed the damage. The apartment building was no more, a large crater with several pipes sticking out of it was the only evidence that the building had ever existed. Huge chunks of the neighboring building were missing and there was rubble scattered for blocks.

He felt Gaz stir at his feet, kneeling beside her Zim scooped her up into his arms. Zim "hush Gaz-mate, Zim is here and you are safe with Zim." Her eyes snapped open, fear making her latch onto him. Recognition followed and tears began to form in her eyes, Zim pressed her head close to his nuzzling her into his shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed, sorrow and pain washing away with every tear. Zim just held her, unsure of what to do in this situation but not wanting to let go. They stayed like that for several moments until Zim saw more soldiers running through the street behind them. Zim whispered "Gaz-Mate, I am sorry but we must move now. More Irken are here." He set her back onto her feet as she wiped the last of her tears away. Zim "is good now, Gaz-Mate is no longer sad?" Gaz shook her head before staring down the street, hatred burning in her eyes "no Zim, Gaz is no longer sad, now she's Furious."

-POV++Gaz++POV-

Gaz could barely contain the rage she felt burning inside her, _**these bastards are going to fucking pay.**_ She grabbed a massive chunk of debris off the roof, scanning the incoming Irken she chose the spot with the thickest group of them and Hurled it with all her might. Not waiting to see what happened Gaz sprinted off the edge of the roof, trusting in her suit to soften her fall. She hit the street mid stride and didn't even slow, as the Irken turned to engage her the chunk of rubble impacted crushing several and wounding dozens. Their lasers flew all around her, green bolts of energy absorbed by her shield and ignored by her. Gaz hit the Irken like a tempest, feet and fists flying, body twisting and turning to deal death at every opportunity. Over a dozen Irken died within the first few seconds, her enhanced strength making short work of their armored bodies.

Gaz could see Zim's red lasers cutting in to her sides, she knew he was watching her back and that gave her the confidence to release her fury. Running from target to target Gaz was a machine of vengeance, crushing bone with every strike. She let her emotions play out, grabbing Irken and pulping their bodies with her hands while crushing others underfoot. The hatred she felt for these invaders burned like a small sun within her, fueling each strike and every movement. She was operating on basic instinct, her motions merely reactions to the Irken around her, her mind barely registered each kill. Within minutes corpses littered the street and Gaz stood alone breathing heavily. She calmed herself slowly, letting her breath push all the anger and frustration out. Then she heard it, one of the invaders near her was still alive.

She glanced about, spotting it dragging itself across the street with only one arm. Its other limbs had been crushed and were bleeding badly. She knew it would be dead soon but walked up to it anyway. Hearing her coming the Irken scrabbled with all its might, trying desperately to get away. It was no use, Gaz lightly kicked the Irken over. It held up a hand at her, pleading with her to spare its life to leave it in peace. She placed a booted foot onto its head slowly applying pressure, it began to writhe violently under her foot. Grabbing at her boot with its hand she continued to push, hearing bone crack and watching the Irken spasm beneath her brought a dark smile to her face. She pushed harder, a loud pop echoed down the street, it stopped moving. Wiping her boot off on its torso she turned around to survey her work, that's when she saw Zim flying down to her.

Zim was shouting and pointing to the sky, Gaz looked up and immediately regretted it. The sky darkened with the silhouette of a massive holding position directly above them, _**this is it, now we die.**_ Then she noticed thousands of small dots in between them and the ship, at first she thought it might be some of Zims drones but the worried look on his face suggested otherwise. It took a moment before she started to recognize them, Gaz "are those, Gir's?" Zim nodded his head "basically they are of the same design, though they are probably far more advanced, they are Sir units." Gaz "well how do we fight them?" Zim shook his head "honestly Gaz-Mate, they are much more powerful then the Irken warriors we have been fighting and in those numbers" he pointed at the sky "we have little chance of lasting more than a few seconds in a stand up fight." Gaz was getting worried "ok so what do we do?" Zim sighed, shrugging his shoulders "I have no idea."

-End of Chapter 9-

Other Notes: thanks to everyone who took the time to read, hopefully the next few chapters will flow smoothly and ill have the complete story up soon so I can get to work on book 2.


	10. Chapter 10

-Chapter 10, Defective-

-POV++Zim++POV-

Zim scanned the darkening sky, thousands of them were descending upon the town. _**Why, why are there so many and why are they so concentrated.**_ Normally Sir units would accompany individual invaders who had some sort of clout, leaders and elite soldiers. Never had he ever heard of them being fielded as a single unit, and never had they come to any planet with such numbers. The Tallest were acting as if this was some sort of personal vengeance, bringing every resource they had to bear against this planet. Some of the Sir units got close enough to open fire, causing Zim to dodge wildly doing his best to avoid their extremely accurate fire. As more of them came into range he threw up his arms, unleashing inaccurate blasts in an attempt to lessen the incoming fire. It didn't work, increasing numbers of lasers skipped off the road around him as he did everything in his power to avoid the green death.

Zims mind was a blur, he stopped firing as it became too difficult to sustain fire while dodging. He was about to reach his limit when he felt arms wrap around his torso, the lasers were being deflected by a shield now enveloping him. _**Gaz,**_ her arms clasped around his chest and he could feel the kiss of her hair on his neck. Zim couldn't help but smile as he started spraying into the oncoming Sir units, kept safe by Gaz. _**Damn they're fast,**_ he was firing as fast as his gauntlets could handle but he hadn't scored a single hit. The machines could almost predict where he was aiming and were long gone before his lasers passed through. _**Time to change tactics,**_ he made fists as his Photon Cannons came forward. Letting them charge Zim scanned for the thickest concentration of Sir units, locating a prime target he fired. The purple balls flew through the air at incredible speeds but the Sir units didn't flinch. They stopped firing at them and began firing on the photon blasts, Zim couldn't believe his eyes as the thousands of Sir units concentrated all of their fire on such a small target.

Barely a hundred meters from the Sir units Zim watched, his heart sinking, as his photon blast exploded. For a moment the sky had a second sun, then slowly as the light faded the Sirs shadows cut through and Zim knew despair. Their fire redoubled, covering Gaz's shield in green energy. The impacts began driving her down, energy in such excess exerted physical force. Zim turned around, helping her stand against the downward pressure. He kissed her cheek, content with death knowing that his last moments alive were with his Gaz. She held him tightly, seeming to understand what was about to happen, and their world became a blur of green light. Zim closed his eyes and kissed her lips, the impacts of the lasers feeling like raindrops to his antenna. Zim heard something, it was hard to make out over the noise surrounding them. It sounded like a high pitched whistle, Zim opened his eyes and scanned the sky. He could barely see through the light, but something was flying towards the Sir units.

-POV++Gir++POV-

Gir "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE." _**Friends, Gir had found friends like him! Now he could play with them all day long. First he had found master Zim's toys, and they are oh so much fun! Now he had new shiny playmates, the day could only get better! **_Gir's thrusters kicked into overdrive. Dozens of new parts were connected around his metallic body, patches of green fur still stuck out from his original shell. His legs had been beefed up now they had massive thrusters and armor plating, on his back was a guidance system and several small turrets. His chest held a large blue power core, encased in a see through hexagonal shell, which powered an impressive shielding system along with his new upgrades. On each arm was a myriad of weapons, everything from lasers and cannons to rocket pods and energy blades were tucked away into the robotic shell. His head was covered by a thick reinforced helmet, its visor system giving Gir enhanced vision and sensors. Over the helmet was the head of a green doggy costume, it was torn, stretched and secured with duct tape.

Gir sped towards the Nearest Sir unit, attempting to wrap it in a hug. The sir unit darted out of Girs range and continued firing at the ground, Gir narrowed his eyes. _**Tag it is then, slippery sausage.**_ Gir bust forward, flailing his arms wildly, trying to touch the illusive Sir unit. Gir was getting closer and closer each time, until the Sir finally stopped firing at the ground. Gir latched onto him "AHA you owe me peanut butter!" The Sir unit wrapped its arms around Girs helmet in an attempt to crush it. Gir "Hugs? YAY HUGS!" With his enhancements Gir simply popped the Sir unit like a grape, its arms and legs shooting off in random directions while pieces of its head and torso fell lazily to toward the ground. The Sir units stopped firing, all turning to Gir they unleashed the fury of their lasers. Surrounded by the light of impacts on his shield Girs eyes widened "Ooohh, dance party!" He flexed his arms and dozens of weapons burst forth. Adding his own 'lights' to the mix, Gir spun around in odd patterns flailing his arms and legs wildly. Explosions erupted around him as his lasers struck dozens of targets, the Sir's advanced programming unable to cope with Gir's complete lack of logical action.

-POV++Zim++POV-

The lasers had stopped, and Zim stared at the sky in utter shock. _**Gir is… helping? **_He couldn't help but laugh as the realization dawned on him. Explosions began ripping through the tightly grouped Sir units, Zim lifted Gaz up and spun her around. The two of them bursting into laughter as relief flooded through them. Pieces of destroyed Sir units fell around them, Zim held onto Gaz's hand while leading her to a nearby overhang. Gaz "what's going on, what saved us?" Zim "Gir! He must have found the upgrades I told him to get…" Zim hit the side of his goggles, bringing up a display with the current time "… five hours ago." Gaz looked confused "you told him to get upgrades?" Zim shook his head "His 'toys' you can't reach Gir with normal things, you have to tell him in a way that makes him want to do what you want him to." Gaz nodded "I get it, he's like a guy." Zim started to nod before he realized what she said, "What?" Gaz giggled "nothing Zim, so what's the plan now? When Irken invade what's the next step?"

Zim shook his head at her "I honestly don't know, this isn't like any invasion I have ever heard of. They never start by attacking major cities from orbit, nor do they ever send so many Sir units for a single objective. By now they should have landed massive walkers to intimidate the populace, usually conquering a planet means leaving a large portion of the populace alive to work for the Irken. This is more like a personal vendetta, I don't think they want anyone to live through the day." Gaz's face hardened and Zim felt bad for having said anything, until she said "if the Human race is going to end today, then we need to make sure that the same happens to the Irken." Zim smiled "anything for my Gaz-Mate" and he bent forward, kissing her lightly. Gaz smiled but suddenly her attention shifted behind him. Her eyes widened "Zim, are those the walkers you were talking about?" Zim followed her gaze, falling from the atmosphere were dozens of massive walkers. Landing thrusters blazed as they slowed before slamming into the ground with earth shattering force.

One in particular stood out to Zim, it was larger than the others by several stories, gold and black plating covered much of its outer surface. Huge swaths of crimson fabric fell from banners, their images recounting countless victories and remorseless brutality. Zim knew at once who was in that machine, _**the 'almighty' tallest. **_They had come personally, now he knew it was no ordinary invasion and he only knew one reason that they would land here. _**They want to kill me personally,**_ he stood clenching his fists, a cold fury spreading from his core. Zim "Gaz, their leaders are in that walker." Gaz looked at him incredulously "how can you tell?" A wicked grin spread slowly across his face "only the almighty tallest are allowed to command that walker, it is their own personal machine of war." Gaz shrugged "ok, fair enough. So what's the plan then?" Zim "the plan is that I'm going to fly over to that walker, if I can kill the tallest it might put the fleet into disarray, giving us a shot at winning this thing."

Gaz scowled at him "oh and what am I supposed to do while your off fighting a giant metal death machine? No, I don't like this plan, I'm coming with you." Zim knew it wasn't fair to her, but there was really no option "Gaz-mate" he put his hands on her arms, pulling her close. Zim "I wish you could, but it isn't something I control. My thrusters aren't strong enough to lift both of us while being able to dodge, if you come with me then we will both die. Before you say anything the only way to get inside is flying, what you need to do is find some living humans. Find your brother he probably needs your help." She softened as his words sunk in, at the mention of Dib her scowl returned. Gaz "He deserves whatever he gets Zim, this is entirely his fault! He lied to us, stole from you and broke into your computer and in doing so essentially doomed the earth. No I don't want to help him." Zim could tell she was lying to herself and he kissed her forehead "Gaz-Mate, you care for your human family. Zim knows this and Gaz knows this, forgive him he just wanted to help your people."

Gaz's scowl melted and tears returned to her eyes, Zim gently wiped them away. Gaz "fine you damn alien" she wrapped her arms tightly around him "but if you die I'm going to kill you." Zim returned her embrace "never will I leave you Gaz-Mate, you are mine forever and even death would not dare take you away from Zim." They kissed, both unwilling to admit that this could be the last time they saw each other. Zim took a few steps back, slowly he braced his body then leapt skyward. Kicking in his thrusters at the Zenith of his jump, launching skyward he had to empty his mind. The coming conflict would test his will and he meant to be the victor. Buildings flew past with increasing speed as Zim maxed out his jets, desperate to inflict his vengeance upon the Tallest.

-POV++Gir++POV-

His new friends had all the best games, they played tag and tickled each other. He hugged so many of them and danced all over the sky, _**Today is the BEST day EVER!**_ The Sir units were retreating, their numbers severely depleted. Gir blasted after them, flying in circles around the stragglers while they fired lasers ineffectually at him. Gir "ground control this is green mambo, tee minus fifteen seconds to ASTRONAUT!" They were flying towards their ship, which was leaving earth's atmosphere, as Gir got closer the landing bay doors began to close. Dozens of Irken workers skittered around in the bay, screams of fear ringing throughout the massive room. Gir increased his speed, burning past several Sir units as he shot for the opening. The Sirs in front of him spun around, slamming into him they pushed with all their thrust against his body. Girs momentum held out for a few seconds before he started to slow, more and more Sir units joined the metallic tug-o-war causing Gir to slow dramatically.

_**Nobody stops Gir,**_ his eyes narrowed turning red. Gir launched several grappling hooks that wrapped themselves around the cluster of robots, then Gir swung the group of them around spinning faster and faster until they were a colored blur. Releasing them so they would scatter down towards earth, Gir powered up his lasers. He began firing wildly at them "Muahahaa-" several exploded sending shrapnel flying "-Hahahaha-" more met their doom to Girs psychotic laughter "-hahahahaha!" He spun back towards his objective, the door was almost closed. Putting every ounce of power he could muster into his jets he careened towards the cracked hangar doors. Inside several of the workers cowered in fear at the far end of the bay, forcing themselves to stare down the raging Sir unit that was heading their way. Gir was too slow, the doors hissed closed while he was still several hundred meters away.

Inside the workers let out a cheer of victory, laughing and jumping about. Silence fell over the jubilant crowd as they heard metal scraping against metal from behind the door. They watched in horror as the center of the door began turning red and yellow, molten metal burst forth killing several where they stood stunned. Gir landed inside the hangar, slag covering the floor around him and his barrels glowing a dull crimson. Gir asked "so, who wants a Cinnibun?" while firing indiscriminately into the crowd of Irken. He popped out the missile pods in his shoulders and launched the small explosives in hundreds of directions. Skipping past the massive pieces of debris from the door, Gir headed down a nearby hallway as explosions rippled through the docking bay. Whistling the tune from the Brady Bunch he made his way to the center of the ship, slaughtering soldiers and workers alike.

-POV++Zim++POV-

The walker's massive cannons blaster super-heated death all around Zim. Maxing out his thrusters and zigzagging was barely keeping him alive, still he pressed forward, _**time to pay for my pain Tallest.**_ He flew close to several smaller walkers, betting that even the tallest wouldn't fire upon their own. He was wrong, huge explosions erupted all around him sending smoke and debris everywhere. If he hadn't been going so fast Zim would have been caught and probably killed in that blast. The shockwave sent him tumbling through the air then crashing through the window of a nearby office building and rolling across the floor. He took a moment to shake his head and get back on his feet before sprinting through the building and flying through the far window. Leaving the building just in time as another titanic blast tore the structure to pieces. The Tallest's walker fired at Zim without a single consideration of what was around him, he decided to use this to his advantage and began zipping behind buildings.

Every building Zim used to hide the walker destroyed, soon there was so much rubble and dust in the air that he could barely see the gauntlet in front of his face. _**Perfect, **_Zim closed his eyes, using his antenna to sense the world around him. Dust appeared as tiny motes of light, glistening around larger objects. The world became light and dark to Zim, white light was open space while black was impassable. Zim flew along his lit pathways, chunks of darkness falling all around him. He could easily tell the massive legs of the Walker, their slow lumbering motions sent cascades of darkness in every direction.

He flew towards them, increasing his speed as he felt the dust begin to settle. _**Only a little more, **_lower and lower he flew as his cover quickly dissolved. His body mere inches from the ground Zim kicked his jets as high as they would go, but it wasn't enough. Zim opened his eyes just in time to see the dust dissolve around him, glancing up to the Walker all Zim saw was the barrel of the largest laser he had ever seen and it was pointed straight at him. His body reacted before he had even register that the laser fired, time seemed to crawl as Zim spun madly to the left. His arms and legs spreading out making his body as flat as possible, the laser was too bright forcing Zim to close his eyes. It burned his vision through his eyelids, Zim could feel the oppressive heat trying to sear him alive. It felt like an eternity in fire and Zim was sure he was dying. Then it was over, a cool rush of air brushed past his skin and he opened his eyes once more.

His vision was blurred but returning quickly, which was lucky for him as he was meters from the outer hull of the Walker. Zim spun around his jets fighting to slow his body, he hit the metal hard scraping across the smooth surface until he managed to regain control. _**Ok Zim, that was pretty pathetic, let's try to at least make a cool entrance.**_ He flew upward, the giant robotic body seemed to stretch for miles, until he saw the one major flaw in every Irken Walker ever made. The giant glass observation window, he stopped in front of it scanning it for an easy way in. There were no obvious weaknesses in the structure, but it didn't seem to be shielded or otherwise protected from lasers. Zim shrugged and began firing at the glass, he made a giant circular pattern in the center. Then boosting forward in an attempt to crash through the glass Zim slammed into it, bouncing off quite harmlessly. He growled in frustration and flew backwards before looping in the air to gain speed, thrusters working at maximum he crashed through the glass barrier. Sliding across the metal floor on one knee with his arms extended out for balance while glass skittered around the room Zim came to a halt.

He stared straight ahead, two thrones were inlaid into the far wall; one a rich crimson with gold patterns woven throughout and the other a brilliant violet with bright green designs sewn in. On their respective thrones sat the Almighty Tallest, fully decked out in their finery. The scowls on their faces told Zim volumes about how badly they despised him, and he was glad. Zim "oh damn, and that was my only chance to make a cool entrance." He rose to his feet, lasers primed as dozens of Guards came rushing in with their weapons aimed and ready. Silence followed, sweat began running down Zims face and he suddenly realized just how much he had been exerting his body. The guards seemed to be waiting on the word from the Almighty Tallest before they moved to engage Zim. Red's face slowly changed from a scowl to a look of superiority, he slowly raised his finger and the guards fired.

-END of Chapter 10-

Notes: wow, my apologies for taking longer than usual with this chapter and probably with the quality of the chapter itself, it was much harder to get a good flow with this as opposed to every other chapter. Read enjoy (or hate, its allowed) and please review.


	11. Chapter 11

-Notes: This chapter is out Earlier then I expected, a good friend of mine helped with the editing and formatting for this chapter, some things might be different but please enjoy the chapter anyway. Ill do my best to get the last few chapters out asap. Will also be putting out a few one shot chapters for other story ideas, if I get good feedback on them then I will pursue a full book for each.

Chapter 11, Traitor.

Pov-Gaz

Gaz watched with growing unease as Zim flew away, _**hes leaving me. **_She did her best to shake off the feeling, _**No he would never leave, he will be back.**_ She couldn't shake it completely and decided to busy herself with the task at hand. she began jogging down streets, taking in all of the pure destruction, the scene was the same block by block. corpses littered the streets, both Irken and Human alike. What stood out to her was the things that were missing. Gaz could see tires and car seats but no cars, there were holes in the ground where the street lamps and sign posts went but none were knocked over or destroyed. everything was just, gone. She remembered Zim telling her about his drones, the larger ones would take resources and make more of the smaller ones. that must have been what happened, she took a second look around and sure enough it was almost exclusively metal that was missing. She smiled to herself, _**hopefully Zims drones can turn the tide of this fight. maybe we can win after all. **_

She got back to the task at hand, she still needed to find Dib. she might just punch him once she found him but she did want to see if he was alright. she tried to recall the town that Zim said Dib was being held at, Gleason. Gaz nodded, _**that will be easy to find, ill just go to the highway and follow the signs.**_ She looked around trying to see what street she was on, then smacked herself in the forehead. _**Fuck, Zims drones ate all the signs. **_Gaz shook her head, _**Now how am i supposed to find Dib. **_she thought for a moment, _**Maybe i can backtrack to Zims house.**_ she looked down each road way, her face showing more and more anxiety as everything looked the same. _**Damn which way did i come from, **_she glanced back and forth, anxiety rising in her chest. She was lost, hopelessly and helplessly lost. Gaz screamed "Fuck" kicking a tire with all of her might, it flew through the air before bouncing off a building on her right and landing on a roof across the street.

Gaz felt very silly as the thought occurred to her, _**I could get on a roof and take a look around to get my bearings. **_Feeling a tinge of embarrassment that she hadn't thought of it earlier Gaz picked the tallest building on the street and went inside. As she searched for the stairs she silently consoled herself, she could allow for a small moment of weakness after all it had been a very trying week. she found the stairwell and ran up taking several steps at a time, when she reached the door she tried the handle, it was locked. with a shrug she kicked the door, bursting off its hinges the solid piece of oak slammed into one of the heating units bolted to the roof. Gaz ignored the noise, her attention caught by the scene unfolding in the distance. Massive explosions erupted through downtown as the Tallest's Walker was blasting away wildly at the ground. _**Zim,**_ he might be in trouble, her heart was beating in her chest so hard she thought it would rip its way out. She glanced behind her, _**the highway is right there. I could easily go and find Dib but...**_ she turned back.

Gaz came to a realization then, she loved Zim more then she loved the earth or anyone on it. Her resolve returned with a vengeance as she took off running towards the explosions in the distance. Her heart was racing as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, easily clearing the streets and alleys below. She pushed her body and the suit to its limits as she practically flew from building to building. _**Stay safe Zim, I would be really pissed off if you died without me.**_

POV-Gir

Gir "I'm a little tea pot, short and stout" he sang loudly as he blasted, slammed and shredded his way through the interior of the ship. Bright lights caught his attention and he jetted off in their direction, skidding past and slamming into anything that was in his way. By this point the Irken had developed an intense fear of Gir and his unpredictable behavior, they just abandoned each section as he advanced towards it. Gir had to find other avenues of amusement and quickly began destroying most of the electrical equipment he found, the sparks they emitted upon being crushed violently were 'pretty'.

On the ships bridge a tense silence held the air as the captain sat quietly contemplating his next course of action. He was significantly taller then the rest of his crew, his height giving him the clout required to command the massive super carrier, unfortunately he still had to take orders from the tallest and their fleet masters. The one he contemplated now might have been the most trying order of his life;

_**Captain, the Zim-traitor has tainted our precious Sir technology, twisting it to his nefarious purposes. The rogue Sir unit is now aboard your vessel, its destruction could mean thousands of Irken lives in the conflict. You are hereby ordered to take your ship away from the battle, then to destroy the rogue Sir unit using whatever means necessary. We calculate that the explosive force of your ships reactor going critical will easily destroy the robot, self destruct is an option captain, do not let us down. Do not return to us without completing your mission, it is far more honorable to die killing this thing then live having failed. if you are unwilling or unable to follow these orders we will ensure the destruction of the unit ourselves. **_

_**Masters of the Fleet. **_

He understood the reason for the order, this rogue Sir unit was having no trouble carving through his defenses and soon his ship would be destroyed anyway, but he had no desire to kill himself or his crew and this was definitely a suicide mission. The captain was running out of time, he knew the the fleet masters would fire upon his ship in an attempt to destroy the robot themselves if he didn't comply. With a heavy sigh he ordered his navigator to chart a course to an empty sector of space, maybe he could managed to destroy the unit without losing his ship and crew. He held little hope but it was a better chance then just activating the self destruct.

Gir zoomed through the hallways, destroying several stations and terminals in his flight. He had gotten sensor readings of a massive power buildup and he was desperately curious to see what was going on. He slammed through a nearby bulkhead, shredding the armored layer of metal like it was tissue paper. He burst out into the engineering section of the ship, tubes and wires ran in every direction all emanating from a massive central power core. It glowed with a malevolent pink light and dozens of Irken engineers stood around stunned, their mouths agape at the intrusion. Gir stood stock still, his eyes wide with fascination as he stared at the massive power cores cooling unit. It consisted of several cylindrical containers, each full of some sort of green gas, they took turns lowering into the massive unit before coming back out to vent the excess heat.

In Gir's mind though it was a completely different image, small animated mole creatures wiggled about taunting him as they hid in the unit and popped back out. The urge to smash them took over and Gir went flying across the engineering level, Irken workers ran about wildly in their attempts to escape from the area. He slammed his massive, weapon covered, arm into the first cooling tube to pop out of the unit. Alarms blared and sirens wailed as the blast doors sealed the engineering section off from the rest of the ship. The thick green gas poured out of the broken container, slowly covering the floor as the Irken began choking and sobbing in their futile attempts to escape. Gir was oblivious to his surroundings as he continued his strange game of 'Whack a Coolant' glass covered the console as another two containers were broken open.

The massive ship lurched in its motions as the core began to over heat, the pilot struggled to keep the vessel on course for its jump. A massive explosion rippled through a section of the outer hull as power began fluctuating to the heavier weapon systems. Gir stopped in mid whack, going completely rigid. The Workers all laid dead on the ground, the gaseous coolant proved extremely hazardous to their lives. Girs eye began twitching "Iiiiiiiiiitttttttccccchhhhhh yyyyyyyy!" and he hopped around in a wild attempt to scratch his butt. Finding the nearest rough surface, which turned out to be the master console, he began running his butt around it in wild patterns. A look of pure bliss covered his face as his behind flicked switches and pressed buttons.

The captain was about to lose it, his pilot had no control over the ships course and every system on the ship seemed to be working with a mind of its own. _**The robot is a master of sabotage, he must be hacking my ship to take it under his own control.**_ He strode forward purposefully, tossing the pilot out of his seat and taking the controls himself. He engaged the sticks for manual control and sighted a quick course before slamming the button to initiate jump. The ship shuddered then lurched violently forward, Gir was sent flying backwards as the ship made no mechanical effort to lessen the drastic acceleration. The core began to shed heat visibly, the outer shell radiating with the massive energy it was struggling to contain. The ship jumped, folding space before it and leaping through the gap it made, flying almost completely out of control it looked more like a wounded creature then a highly advance vessel of war.

POV-Zim

Time seemed to stand still as he was grimly aware of the lasers flying through the air towards him. He barely managed to get his arms up, covering his face, before the lasers impacted. Pain seared through his body, and he growled trying to block it from his mind. He dropped to a knee and rolled to his right, trying his best to avoid their fire as they continued shooting at him. Zim was lucky, the armored layer had taken the brunt of the damage, leaving him with some mild burns and bruises. He ended up behind a control console and pressed his back to the cold metal. He saw bright pink blood splatter against the wall as the guards fired at his position with no regard for the operator that had been sitting at the station. Zim kept his head down as the laser fire hammered the metal behind him, he knew it was going to take either a miracle or an act of serious desperation for him to get out of this fight unscathed.

He had an inspiration from the Irken guards and began firing upon the other consoles in the command room. He couldn't hit all of them but each one he managed to damage caused the walker to shudder and lurch. After several destroyed consoles the entire walker listed dangerously to one side, the shooting stopped as the guards went sprawling about the floor and Zim barely managed to stay where he was in a sitting position. As he heard the sounds of weapons clattering to the floor he took the opening. rolling out and posting upon one knee Zim began shooting at the guards that had retained the bulk of their balance, he hoped that the others would be kept out of the fight by their fall long enough for him to even the odds.

The guards were stunned as his lasers passed easily through their shields burning holes through their armor and searing tender flesh below. Three guards fell to his assault before the others could gather themselves up to return fire, lasers skipped along the floor around him and the console to his right. Zim ignored them keeping his weapons blasting away, dropping another guard before he felt searing pain run through his leg. He rolled back into cover, teeth clenched from the pain. Glancing down at the wound he felt slightly sick to his stomach, the laser had carved a straight line from his knee to hip, freshly burned skin lay exposed from his suit. Pushing the wound to the back of his mind he risked a peek over his cover, immediately ducking back down as the remaining guards opened fire. He had seen enough to know that there were only five guards left fighting. He must have gotten lucky and one of them had been injured by the fall.

_** Well that is at least better odds then before.**_ Deciding he had to chance it Zim took a deep breath, calming himself and preparing for the pain as he launched himself over the console straight at the waiting guards. His leg barely held his weight but he pushed through, the guards were stunned by the sudden charge causing them to fire wildly at Zim. He ignored their fire, feeling tiny burns graze across his body, and unleashed his fury upon them. As the distance between them began to disappear Zim felt something slam into his torso, sending him flying backwards into the far wall. Stars erupted across his vision as he sat stunned for a moment. As his vision returned Zim was surprised to see the guards standing at attention across the room with their weapons held down at their sides. He stood slowly and cautiously when he saw the reason for their lack of hostility.

Almighty Tallest Red had stepped forth, a long energy whip extended from his right gauntlet and a shimmering shield glowing around his body. Red "Zim-Traitor, you will no longer face our guards, now you face one of the Almighty Tallest." Red cracked his energy whip and small discharges of electricity began running along its length. _**I cant let him hit me with that thing, it really fucking hurts.**_ Zim crouched slightly getting ready for Reds next attack, keenly aware of his injuries and fatigue. _**This is going to be rough. **_Zim was lucky that Red used the whip as a weapon, he saw red building up his attack well before it came and found it much easier to dodge then he had feared. As he got up from rolling out of the way he brought his guns to bear firing a volley at Red. Then was forced to dodge his own lasers as they bounced off of his shield. Red was laughing "Zim-Traitor, you didn't think your puny technology would be a match for the best of Irken shields! Now you know how futile your fight really is, just surrender now and you will only be tortured for a millennium before we end your miserable existence."

Zim fired off a few more bursts, dodging each one in turn, he was unwilling to believe that the tallest had some sort of technology he had never seen before. Finally admitting his disadvantage Zim could barely contain his rage, Reds mocking laughter haunting him as he took cover trying to think of some weakness he could exploit. Zims antenna twitched, sensing something headed his way he ducked just in time to avoid a strike from Reds energy whip, it shot sparks along the metal and left scorch marks wherever it touched. _**Have to avoid that whip, **_he sprinted forward with the weapon biting at his heels. Zim noticed Purple still sitting easily in his chair, and a somewhat desperate plan began to form in his mind. He quickly turned left, the whip barely missing his shoulder as he brought himself directly between Red and Purple. He squared off at Red who just smiled as he brought the whip down towards Zim, anticipating the movement Zim stepped to the right flattening his body and letting the whip sail harmlessly in front of him. Red was momentarily caught off guard, this was Zims chance and he turned towards purple igniting his jets and blasting towards the surprised Irken.

Purple reacted just as Zim had hoped, he pulled out some sort of large pistol and fired right at Zim. Shutting off his jets and dropping to the floor Zim managed to go under the shot, which was far more intense then he had anticipated. The beam sailed true and slammed into Reds shields, deflecting back at purple. It bounced between the two of them rapidly, their shields glowing every brighter and a smell of ozone filling the air. Zim ducked for cover behind one of the consoles just in time, a load explosion ripped through the confined room, blasting the last of the window out into the street. Zims ears were ringing but he pushed through the feeling and stood up surveying the scene. Dust had enveloped most of the command center and Zim could see the bodies of several small Irken workers strewn about the ground. He could see no evidence of Purple or red until the energy whip came slicing through the dust catching Zim at the torso and wrapping around his body.

Zim could feel the electricity running through him, his muscles began to twitch and go numb. He could hear the sizzling of his armored suit and smell the material burning at the whips very touch. Red "you Vile creature, thinking you could best us that easily!" Purple "Foolish Zim-Traitor, now you will feel the fury of the Almighty Tallest." Zim was yanked into the dust cloud, sending potions of it scattering away, then slammed into the far wall. A burning pain ran through Zim as he heard several of his ribs crack from the impact, _**that is not a good sign.**_ The dust cleared out of the room as Zim tried to steady himself, the whip having released him upon impact. He clearly saw the two Tallest, looking rather pissed off and somewhat scuffed up. Their robes were singed and Purple had one eye shut painfully.

Zim took a little satisfaction in that fact, he definitely hurt them, but he doubted it would be enough. His body was in much worse shape then theirs and they seemed to have the advantage in technology, Zim couldn't resist a laugh. _**All that time, improving my technology and planning my vengeance it comes down to this and they are winning.**_ Red snapped his whip at Zim, the weapon moved much slower then before but Zim was in no condition to fight. He tried to roll out of the way but was struck across the hip, shocks and lances of pain ran up through his body. Zim clutched his side, breath coming in ragged gasps as the electricity coursed through his muscle. The tallest walked slowly towards him, their eyes shining with victory. The whip rose and fell once more, Zim cried out in agony as it cut into his chest, pink blood scattered across the floor. He fought to keep his eyes open as Red knelt before him raising his arm for the fatal blow.

-End of Chapter 11-

Notes: DUN DUN DUN, don't you just hate cliff hangers?


	12. Chapter 12

Authors Note: Sincerest apologies to everyone who had to wait for this chapter, things went seriously FUBAR after I made it back home to the states. Hopefully the RL stuff didn't leak into my writing. I will do my best to knock out the last few chapters within a timely matter. As always please leave reviews/suggests/complaints I love any type of feedback.

Edit: apologies again, apparently a few paragraphs had been somehow cut out when I originally posted this chapter. I have fixed the issue and hope that any confusion caused will be set straight.

-Chapter 12, Rage.

POV-Gaz

Her heavy footfalls stirred small clouds of ash as Gaz ran through the rubble which used to be a sprawling metropolis. She was extremely grateful for the gently falling ash and dust around her it acted like a thick fog, obscuring her from the view of the surrounding Irken. She could hear them as they continued to fight Zims machines, the Irken were doing better than she would have hoped. She pushed that from her mind, it no longer mattered, she needed to find Zim. She found the crumbled side of an apartment building and trotted up towards the roof, she needed a better look at her surroundings. As she made it to the top, she was disappointed, the ash was too thick even at this height.

Gaz turned to climb back down when she heard a massive explosion, she spun back around trying to locate the source when a gust of wind slammed into her. She fell to her knees and grabbed handholds in the rubble, within moments the wind abated and she took a look around. She was standing within a few blocks of the massive walker that had been the center of the blast. Gaz could clearly see fighting going on through a large hole in the machine. For a moment she could swear she saw Zim fighting in there, but the ash was returning and her vision was becoming clouded once more. She went to the edge of the roof, trying to find a way to the hole in the walker but the city around it was completely flattened.

Gaz cursed, trying to think of another way in when a second smaller walker came into view. It was turning its weapons towards her and she took a few steps back. She could see the heat coming off its massive cannons as they powered up. She didn't know if her shield could handle weapons of this size, besides Gaz was tired of hiding behind her shield. She sprinted forward leaping at the machine just as it unleashed its hellish energy at the building. The air smelled acidic as tons of concrete and steel were instantly vaporized and Gaz could feel the heat from the beam. It felt like an eternity as she sailed through the air above the destructive blast before it ended and she slammed into the chest section of the walker.

Gaz could feel herself sliding down the smooth exterior as she tried in vain to find a handhold. Frustration mounting with her anger at being so close, she slammed one fist into the hardened metal shell. It gave, her suit enhanced strength proving too much for the metal alloy. Her body jerked to a halt, anchored to the improvised handhold. Gaz positioned her body Stomach flat against the Walker, then clenching her other fist she punched a second handhold into the smooth surface. It was a little awkward at first but soon enough she was climbing with haste, feeling more and more like some crazy cartoon character with each step. Gaz could hear the muffled voices coming from the crew inside.

The walker began crashing through buildings in an attempt to dislodge her from its outer hull. Gaz climbed doggedly on, ignoring the rubble and smoke, forcing herself to concentrate on getting to the top of the machine. Her muscles burned with the constant exertion, but she ignored the pain, knowing this walker was only a stepping stone on the way to her real objective. Finally she made it to the armor-glass shell that made up the control center of the walker, half a dozen Irken fervently manipulated the controls desperation clear on their faces. Gaz smiled a small predatory grin before slamming her fist into the clear shell. Cracks formed immediately and the crew fought desperately to find some way of denying her entrance.

It was to no avail, on the third swing Gaz broke completely through the armor. Shards rained down upon the terrified Irken as they attempted to ready some sort of defense. Gaz didn't give them the chance, within moments she was among them snapping out quick punches and devastating kicks. The small Irken bodies were easily shattered against the interior of the walker or quickly thrown outside to fall to their deaths. It was all over in a matter of heartbeats, Gaz stood triumphant in the control center, finally taking a moment to survey the surroundings she was elated to see that this machine was still closing on the massive walker.

She could see the interior clearly now, Zim was fighting and he was losing. She had to think of some way to help him. Glancing at the controls she saw one console that wasn't too damaged from the fighting, it had a simple joystick sticking out of the center with dozens of buttons in a ring around it. She grabbed the joystick and saw it move the left arm, she did a quick estimation of where the walkers would pass the closest and stuck the arm straight out in that direction. Climbing out from the control center Gaz hurried along the edge of the walker, the heights were dizzying and the speed at which the walker was moving made her stumble at several points.

Gaz lined up on the arm, hoping that she would be able to make the jump and that she wasn't leaping to a horrible death. She saw the tallest, Red, moving slowly towards Zims prone body. He struck Zim with a whip and she could hear him cry out in pain. Her fear was replaced by a raging fury, she would make these aliens pay for hurting Zim. She sprinted forward, running the length of the outstretched arm in a matter of moments. She leapt as she hit the end of the arm, her jump was good but it was going to be close.

POV-Zim

His body was giving up, pain coursed through every limb and he felt an unconquerable exhaustion down to his core. _**So tired,**_ Reds smile stretched across his face "Finally Zim-Traitor you will know death." Zim tried to remember why he wanted to live, _**So tired, just want to rest. **_Red couldn't help but gloat in his victory "oh don't worry Zim-Traitor, soon those little Ape-Creatures will join you in death. Once I kill you we will end this planet, destroying every speck of evidence that it ever existed, and you Traitor will die knowing that it is entirely your fault." _**Dark, everything feels so cold; I think I will sleep now. **_Zims eyes began to close, Reds smile widened as he saw victory easily within his grasp.

Gaz "ZIM!"

Zims eyes snapped open, _**Gaz. **_Reds hand descended upon Zim, the harsh smell of ozone filling the air between them. Zim let out a low growl as his hand shot up grabbing Red by the wrist. Red tugged against Zims grip, but he didn't budge. Zims eyes widened in surprise, _**they are tall like me but they don't have my strength.**_ Red activated his other gauntlet and struck Zim with the electrical discharge, Zim lost control of his body once again cursing at his foolishness.

Zim could hear sounds of a scuffle behind Red but could do nothing as Red raised his whip once more to finish him. Suddenly Reds body slams down into Zim, something collided with Reds back then went skidding off across the floor. Zim, not wanting to waste another second, grabbed Red by the collar and slammed his head into the floor. Rolling over to get on top of the Irken leader Zim flexed his claws and slammed his hand into Reds armored chest. To Zims surprise his hand went straight through, piercing metal and flesh like it was nothing, stopping only as Zim felt the beating of the Irkens Squeedlyspooch in his hand. Gripping the writhing organ Zim pulled with all his might, tearing the massive organ out Reds chest. Zim smiled as he watched the last light fade from Reds dying eyes. Blood and gore covered Zim as he stood to find the source of his assistance, and had to duck immediately as Purple went sailing over his head.

With a loud crash Purple slammed into the far wall, Zim spun around then stopped stunned. Gaz stood across the room, blood coating the bottom of her boots and several places on her gauntlets. She was standing in some form of martial arts stance, with her feet shoulder width apart and one back slightly, both arms were up defensively and she was motioning a challenge at purple with a single finger held out triumphantly. Zims chest swelled at the sight of her, forgetting his pain for a moment he stood and began trotting over to her. He only made it a few steps before collapsing back to a Knee, Gaz broke her stance and ran to his side. Gaz "Zim, how badly are you hurt?" Zim did his best to smile at her "oh I will be fine Gaz-Mate, I'm just a little light headed from seeing you in that skin tight armor." As if on cue he coughed, blood spilling out from his mouth and Gaz gasped with concern. Gaz was about to say something when Purple cut her off "Foolish Dirt-monkey, now you will die with you precious Traitor." Purple flexed his arms out, four metallic appendages shot out of his Pak. Two of them ended in wicked looking claws while one ended in a strange looking nozzle, the last looked like a single eye with two small lenses attached underneath.

Gaz dropped back into her fighting stance while Zim, on reflex, stepped slightly in front of her with his claws and teeth bared protectively. Purple laughed at them "You two think killing Red will do anything other than bring me absolute joy? He was an ignorant fool, and I detested sharing power with him. I'm GLAD you killed him, now I will rule the entire Irken Empire myself fools!" With that he charged, clawed arms shooting out at Zim while the strange Nozzled appendage launched a gout of flame at Gaz. Zim screamed "NO" as the flames engulfed Gaz, this cost him as the claws raked across his wounded chest causing him to stumble and fall hard onto the ground. Purple quickly closed the distance to the prone Zim, bringing the Irken flamethrower around to incinerate his enemy. As Zim watched the murderous appendage whip through the air towards him he also saw Gaz roll out from the smoke behind Purple. She was lightly singed and sweating but otherwise unharmed, he felt his chest relax as relief flooded through his body. She sprinted towards Purple, leaping into the air in an attempt to kick him. Somehow purple dodged at the last second, whipping a claw down at Gaz and catching her mid-air. She was slammed into the floor with a resounding thud as Purple brought his second claw slicing down at her.

Gaz spun her legs up and around, dodging the claw and coming up into a fighting crouch with one fluid motion. Zim rolled to his side, feeling the flames lick his back as he barely managed to dodge Purples attack, thinking quickly he hopped up and grabbed onto the metallic arm wielding the fire. Zim "Gaz attack him now!" she nodded and sprinted forward, purples claws slashed down in rapid strikes that Gaz easily dodged and deflected. Zim smiled, close combat was definitely her area of expertise, but his celebration was cut short as a laser seared into his arm causing him to lose his grip on the Flamethrower. As the appendage snaked back towards an oblivious Gaz, Zim shouted "Watch out!" he watched helplessly as she turned to face the incoming danger barely moments before fire engulfed her position. Zim wasn't given a moment to process what he had just seen as several more lasers were fired at him. He dodged and rolled, using his jets for a much needed boost of speed, while trying to determine the location of the attack.

Then he saw it, the arm with the strange eye, it was stationary just a few meters above Purples head. But as Purple watched Gaz's direction the Eye was watching Zim. One of the twin lenses below the eye glowed brightly before firing another laser at Zim who rolled behind a console for cover. Zims mind was racing, he knew that he could play only a minor role in this fight. With Purples shields able to deflect Zims lasers and the multitude of arms defending his body it would be nearly impossible to injure the Irken monarch. His chest felt heavy, he surmised that he must be bleeding internally. Zim knew he needed his medical concoction and fast, his body might survive the trauma but it wouldn't hold up for long in this battle. He risked a glance, seeing Gaz losing ground as she deflected the claws and dodged the flames, he ducked back behind cover as lasers skittered off the ground around him. He had to do something, so he lunged out from cover and fired a few blind bursts at Purple before he made it to a second console. Zim almost laughed, his shots had bounced off of Purple's shield like before but one had almost hit his metallic arms. _**They aren't shielded, perfect.**_

-Pov-Gaz

The claws were easy enough to deflect, after the first few minutes fighting this green freak Gaz knew their limitations. They could only strike from a downward angle towards her, so she never had to guard her legs and had a fairly free range of movement. The flame spitting arm was a different story, it seemed to rotate around his body, enabling it to attack from all kinds of directions but even it had limitations. While it was pretty terrifying to have flames launch out at you, the range was very important. Gaz had successfully dodge the attack twice just by taking a few quick steps back, if the weapon wasn't right in your face then you really didn't have to worry about it. Gaz was slowly giving ground, trying to lull her foe into a sense of superiority, she knew given a little time and confidence that he would slip up. She just had to make sure she was there when he did.

She saw Zim pop out from cover and take several shots at Purple, but he was missing badly, _**he must be in worse shape than I thought.**_ _**The laser fire didn't even hit Purples shields**_, she had to bring an arm up defensively as a strike landed far too close to her, _**need to push that to the back of my mind or I will lose and if I lose then this freak might kill Zim. **_Her face set into a hard scowl _**That is so not happening. **_Purple doubled his attacks, sending Gaz into a twisting dance of blocking and dodging until she ran into the far wall. Seeing that she had no place left to move Purple screamed "Ha! I have you now Dirt-Creature!" Gaz couldn't suppress the smile, _**hook line and sinker, **_Purple brought his flame spewing arm to within inches of her face and she could feel the warmth radiating from the tip.

Before the flames could exit, Gaz grabbed a hold of the metallic limb and using her heightened strength she slammed it into the wall. The impact warped the nozzle, sealing the end and effectively rendering the weapon useless. The sudden change in pressure caused the back of the limb to swell then burst, covering Purple in a light red liquid. He leapt back, screaming "You worthless Animal!" Trying in vain to shake the thick liquid from his body. Gaz took the opening and rushed forward, placing all of her weight on her left foot she spun letting the momentum carry her into a powerful roundhouse kick. She her foot was within inches of striking Purples stomach when his clawed arms managed to interpose themselves and block her strike. The force of her blow sent purple sliding across the chamber, his feet slick with the flammable goo.

Purple wiped his eyes clear and glared at Gaz "You will pay you pathetic earth monkey!" he grabbed two strange hand held objects from under his robe, aiming the first at the floor he flexed his hand causing a strange blue energy to emanate from the device. The energy wrapped around purples arm, three long energy whips erupted from his hand while his arm became incased in blue energy armor. He lifted his right hand, holding the other device, and aimed it at Gaz. Twin bolts of lightning shot forth, they expanded and struck off the floor and ceiling before striking Gaz's shield. When they impacted the air around her ionized resulting in a deafening crack, the force of the weapon threw Gaz against the far wall. Purple "Now you shall feel the wrath of the Almighty Tallest."

Gaz was having trouble breathing, her chest ached and her back felt like it was on fire. _**That really fucking hurt **_she managed to regain her feet, leaning heavily on the wall. Purple was slowly walking towards her, the strange lightning gun was held at his side, while he lazily flicked the energy whips back and forth. Gaz fell into a simple guard stance, preparing for another debilitating hit from the lightning gun, when she saw Zim roll out from behind a nearby console. He stopped on a knee directly behind Purple, Gaz saw a flurry of blasts go above purples head and she gasped. The arm with the eye that had been watching purples back was shredded by Zims shots, _**He didn't miss earlier, he was aiming for the arm.**_ Purple roared and spun around on Zim, his energy whips tearing through the console before slamming into Zim sending his body tumbling into the far wall.

Gaz ran forward, wanting nothing more than to reach Zims side, but purple had other ideas. Purple brought his energy whips around in a sharp arc, aiming for her head. On instinct her hand shot up to block the attack, all three of the whips wrapped around her armored forearm. Gaz convulsed and fell hard to her knees as electricity from the whips coursed through her body, she heard screaming and it took her a moment to realize that it was her screaming. Tears flowed freely down her face as her body tried to cope with the pain wracking her system. Disoriented Gaz could barely see the world around her pain and tears blurring her vision, something deep within her kept trying to force its way to the surface, _**Pull.**_

Her vision swam in and out of focus, she began piecing together her surroundings, Purple stood a few steps away from her, his energy whips forming an unbroken line towards her. A cruel smile was plastered across his face as he aimed the lightning gun at Gaz, _**Pull. **_Her body felt numb, her heart was having trouble keeping a steady beat. All Gaz wanted was to close her eyes, but some deep part of her wouldn't give up, _**PULL. **_Gaz stole a glance at her arm, the energy whips were still wrapped around her forearm but she had subconsciously grabbed onto them. Purples lightning gun was almost ready to fire, small arcs flashed out from the end of its barrel. Gaz knew she couldn't take another hit from that gun, she honestly doubted she could even really keep fighting him, but she had to do something.

Bracing her legs against the floor Gaz clamped her hand down hard on Purples energy whip and pulled with all her might. She had forgotten about the enhanced strength as Purples body jerked forward violently, his gun fired arcing into the ceiling and wall away from her. Metal gave way at the immense energy discharged, gouging a massive rent through the walkers interior. The Irkens body bounced several times, dropping his weapons in the process, before coming to a stop by the entrance Zim blasted to get inside. Purples Pak was mostly destroyed, the red liquid had splattered all over the floor leaving a thin trail back to the damaged console. Gaz smiled as she struggled to stand, _**It's about time for this bastard to die, **_she took a few shaky steps, covering the distance to the broken console. Reaching inside she grabbed a bundle of wires, sparks gently arcing from the exposed metal.

Purple pushed himself onto his knees before turning to stare daggers at Gaz. Purple "I will make sure you live through this _Human_, I will make sure that you personally beg me for death before I end your miserable existence…" his speech was cut short as he saw the smile on her face. Gaz didn't feel like talking to the Irken leader anymore, she brought the exposed wire down near the floor, Purples eyes widened in fear as he realized what he was covered in. Gaz exposed her teeth in a feral smile before a spark arced across igniting the trail of flammable liquid. In a few heartbeats purple was wreathed in flames, he rolled about on the floor trying to extinguish the fire but only managed in rolling ever close to the edge.

With a renewed scream purple rolled right out of the walker, plummeting aflame towards the rubble below. Gaz walked over to Zims prone body, rolling him over. His breathing was ragged and blood seemed to be leaking out of every part of his body, but he smiled when he saw her face. Tears fell freely from her eyes once again, _**he is so broken so hurt, **_Zim lifted his arm slowly wiping away her tears. Zim "Gaz-Mate do not leak for me, it is over and I will be fine as long as I have the Gaz-Mate." She held him tight against her, sobbing freely as relief flooded her, Zim just smiled and held her back. After a few moments Gaz helped Zim to his feet and the two of them made their way to the open hole in the wall, Zim leaning heavily on Gaz for support.

Gaz looked out upon the scene of destruction that used to be a bustling city and sighed heavily. Gaz "What happens now, will the Irken stop now that the Tallest are dead?" Zim shook his head "That is the least of the likely possibilities Gaz-mate, the next tallest will exert control of the empire soon. At most we have bought the earth hours, I fear this planet is doomed no matter what we do, now that the tallest are gone the rest of the Irken have nothing stopping them from just blasting the world into a lifeless rock." Gaz's heart sank at Zims words "Is there nothing we can do Zim?" Zim was about to answer then seemed to realize something "Maybe… with the tallest both dead that means I'm technically the next tallest Irken alive. If I can get back to the lair I might be able to confuse enough of the Irken to buy us more time." Zim cracked a small humorless smile "but the chances of it working are very small Gaz-mate."

Gaz nodded "that's fine, at least it is something we can try. Now all we need to do…" she was cut off mid sentence as lights and alarms starting blaring around them. The computer was saying something in Irken and Zims face immediately lit with worry, before Gaz could ask what was wrong Zim wrapped his arms around her and she felt a wave of pressure shoot through her body as his jets kicked on, sending the pair of them flying through the air away from the walker. She just had enough time to gasp a breath before the walker exploded behind them, arcing green energy erupted all around them and a massive shockwave slammed into them. The last thing Gaz saw before losing consciousness was the ground tumbling towards them.

END-Chapter 12.

Notes: hopefully the next chapter comes out within a few weeks and not a few months. Again my apologies for this taking so blasted long.


	13. Chapter 13

Authors Note: quick word, if you were one of the 20 or so people who read chapter 12 before I reposted and put the missing paragraphs back in please go give it a quick re-read. Missing those paragraphs wasn't super important but it did gloss over some details that had Gaz teleporting somewhere with no idea how she got there.

Second Note: please toss me some reviews if yall like this story, I already plan on making it the first in a trilogy and have the 2nd and 3rd books planned but not sure if there is much desire to see them posted. This book has maybe 2 more chapters until it is done and I want to see if everyone would like to see it continued.

Chapter 13: Fissure

In orbit around earth the mighty Irken armada floated silently, thousands of vessels made up its bulk, but at its very core sat four ships who each dwarfed the rest. Three of these were obviously motherships, _**Enslave**__, __**Burden**__, _and _**Weightless**__,_ their massive size made to house and repair smaller vessels and to protect the 3 fleet masters so they could maintain control of their lesser ships. The fourth vessel was roughly two thirds the size of the mother ships but as opposite in design as could be. Where they were round and fat it was sleek and efficient, where they had massive hangars and repair facilities it had tons of armor and titanic weapon banks. This ship was the super-battleship _**Conquest**_, the almighty tallest' personal vessel.

Fleet master Gung, commanding officer of the Mother ship _**Enslave**_, stared lazily over his display, his face etched in a slight frown. Reluctantly he tapped a few controls, making the display before him shimmer and refresh. His frown grew more prominent as he appeared to struggle with the information placed before him. Gung "this can't be right… Watchman" at his words a miniscule Irken in a plain grey uniform stepped up, his posture rigid. Gung "I want a particle by particle sweep of the area on view, I want to know how many atoms are there and I want it done Now."

The watchman nodded rapidly before sprinting back to his post, hands working feverishly in an effort to obey. Gung glanced around his bridge, there was an eerie silence in the air and he knew why. Minutes ago they had all watched as their leaders the Tallest engaged in battle with the Traitor Zim. The outcome had been known to all, the tallest would kill Zim and then move on to destroy this planet, but that's not what happened. Zim had been losing, that much was clear, but then this fleshy dirt creature came to his aid. It should not have mattered, there were billions of these dirt things on this world and none of them could put up any kind of fight.

Once again this one was different. They had watched with growing horror as the Zim-Traitor had killed almighty tallest Red, then had been relieved to watch purple rise above and beyond to send both into what had looked like certain defeat. Somehow the dirt thing had proven the better fighter, somehow the two strange and hated allies had managed to kill even Almighty Purple. The Irken fleet did not want to believe it, they could not believe it. No tallest had been killed in generations, they were stunned. Gung looked at his display once more, closing the view that had recently shown that fateful battle and opened a display of the fleet in orbit. The fleet was as silent as his bridge, he couldn't stand to see the great Irken armada reduced to shocked weaklings.

Gung tapped his command override, initiating communications across the entire fleet. Gung "This is Fleet Master Gung, all Irken vessels will now be under my control pending investigation into the loss of our Almighty Tallest. It is with utmost regret that I take command of our…" his override chirped as two other command overrides battled with his. Gung shook his head, the other fleet masters were going to fight him on this so be it. His claw tipped fingers moved easily over his controls, two images popped up before him. Fleet Master Azma, his thin almost sickly features in stark contrast to Gung's fleshy well filled self, who commanded _**Weightless**_. And Fleet Master Saeso, his athletic physique showing the immense difference between all three commanders, commanding the _**Burden**_.

Gung sighed heavily "What do you two want, can you not see that this fleet is in a state of emergency?" Saeso angered visibly at Gungs tone but it was Azma who managed to speak first. Azma "the emergency isn't just limited to our loss of leadership but now it's come to include the presumptuous assumptions of one of our own. You know full well that I am the same height as you and therefore deserve equal leadership in this empire. I will not sit idly by and watch you take what is rightfully mine, and don't think for a second that I won't resort to violence over this Gung." Gungs perpetual frown seemed to take up the bottom half of his face, and he made to reply before he was cut off once more. Saeso "You Azma? Hah. Both of you know full well that on our last measurement I was point zero one three microts taller then both of you, so obviously I am in sole command of this fleet and the empire."

Gung set his jaw barely managing to speak through his clenched teeth "your foolish tricks may have duped the 'experts' at the height and wellness facilities, Saeso, but I am not so easily tricked." Saeso colored with rage as Azma agree with Gung. Azma "you can not trick your betters Saeso, and if you insist on pushing this matter I will have no choice but to place you under arrest for treason." Gung nodded sagely with Azmas words, internally hating agreeing with the Irken he at least had his uses in dealing with Saeso. Gung "now, let us start to put all this behind us." He smiled, showing his sharpened zipper like teeth. Gung "if the two of you had let me complete my transmission then you would have seen that my command was only a temporary one so that we could get the fleet moving and get on with eliminating the Traitor Zim." It was a blatant lie, and Gung suspected that they both knew as much.

Slowly Azma nodded in apparent agreement "I applaud your enthusiasm for finishing this fight, I too tire of this ugly mud ball planet. We need to be decisive, killing this Zim publicly and thoroughly so that everyone will know that to mess with the Empire means Death." Saeso gave a small nod at that. Saeso "I can agree with the two of you on these present goals, but this is not over. We will get back to Imperial space and then we well decide who will rule." Gung "I believe Saeso, that we are all in agreement of that as well. All we need to do is work together now so that we can finish this and tend to matters at home." Both of his counterparts Nodded in their agreement. Gung held a soft smile as he thought of all the way to ensure that neither of them made it back home alive.

A message alert chimed and all three fleet admirals looked startled, it came from the emergency priority alert reserved for the almighty tallest. Sweat began to form on Gungs brow and he exchanged nervous glances with his fellow admirals. Slowly he reached forward and tapped the alert, a third window popped into place before him and he let out a sigh of relief. Displayed before him was Captain Ishia, only slightly shorter then the fleet admirals she had been given command of the Super-Battleship _**Conquest**_, her well kept uniform fit snugly over her body. She was well built for an Irken, tending more towards muscular then many of their kind and her antenna were short and forward, giving her an aggressive look. Gung gazed down at her like a disappointed superior who is about to chew out an unlucky worker. Gung "Captain, you are not authorized to use that alert and by doing so have placed yourself in a very dangerous position. So whatever you need to tell the fleet admirals had better be extremely important."

Ishia smiled in response, the look of triumph in her eyes making Gung wary. Ishia "oh don't worry Admiral, what I have to say could be the most important word of your very existence." Gung was perplexed, and he glanced at his fellow admirals their looks mirroring his own confusion, before turning back to the captain. Gung "are you trying to tell me that you only want to say a single word to us? I fail to see how a single word could be of any importance what so ever captain." Her smile only seemed to deepen at his words, causing a fresh wave of confusion and a small hint of fear to run through him. Ishia "oh I assure you, this one word will change the very fate of the Irken Empire." Gung was dumbfounded, he was positive that there wasn't anything that she could say that might even change the course of this invasion, let alone have any effect on the empire.

Gung "well out with it captain, what is this one word that is so important that it will change the Empires fate?" his tone was demanding, and edge with a growing anger. A watchman coughed behind him causing Gung to spin around and glare at the diminutive Irken. Gung "What is it Watchman." The Irken was shaking nervously as he made his report "S-Sir, the _**Conquest **_has deviated from her assigned position…" Gung turned back to his console hitting controls until a view of the fleet popped up, the _**Conquest**_ had moved, but only enough to place herself in the center of the three mother ships. Gung turned back to Ishia, and was about to inquire as to why she had moved her ship when she finally answered his earlier question. Ishia "the word that will change the fate of the Irken Empire Admiral is, _**Goodbye."**_

That's when it dawned on him, he wanted to scream to his crew, tell them to raise shields and target the _**Conquest**_ but before he could even open his mouth the Super-Battleship opened fire. For a few moments space between _**Conquest **_and _**Enslave **_became nothing but light, as the vast arsenal of the Super-Battleship tore through the Immense bulk of the Mother ship. Gung felt his body leave his command chair, floating freely up into the bridge. Secondary explosions rocked the massive vessel as the _**Conquest**_ poured volley after volley into the helpless ship. Both _**Weightless**_ and _**Burden**_ used the time, while _**Conquest**_ was methodically annihilating the _**Enslave,**_ to raise their own defenses and turn their combined firepower against the rogue ship.

POV- Ishia

Lounging back into her command chair Ishia watched the death of _**Enslave**_ and its bossy commander Admiral Gung. She relished the sweet sights, the bright flashes of death that speared through the _**Enslaves**_ hull. Ishia felt like a predator, released into a field of helpless prey. Savoring the last moments of light as _**Enslave**_ ruptured and blew apart, tens of thousands of Irken bodies blown into atoms as its power core released its pent up fury. Ishia was breathing heavily, the thought of ending all those lives with such ease made her feel warmth course through her body. Her console beeped and chirped several warnings as the _**Weightless**_ and _**Burden**_ began firing on her shields. Ishia wasn't worried, _**Conquest**_ might not have been the biggest ship in the Irken Armada but it was the Deadliest. She spoke softly to her crew, her silky words sending them into a frenzy of activity. The _**Conquest**_ swung around bringing its forward shields and weapons to bear against _**Weightless**_, keeping her superior firepower concentrated on each Mother Ship in turn was the quickest way to end this.

Another alert sprang to life on her console, a fleet wide communication from the _**Burden**_. Saeso "Attention all ships in the Irken Armada, this is Fleet Master Saeso. Captain Ishia has turned upon the Fleet, all vessels are ordered to engage her ship at once." Ishia smiled knowingly to herself, before forcibly changing her expression to one of righteous fury, and she tapped her own Fleet wide alert. Ishia "Irken Armada, The fleet admirals are responsible for the deaths of our beloved almighty tallest. They are traitors to the Empire and must be destroyed, all ships must ensure that none of the Fleet Admirals survive. Any ship who sides with the traitors will be considered enemies of the empire and destroyed." She sent out the message and leaned back once more, waiting patiently for the counter she knew Admiral Saeso would fall back on.

Saeso "To all Irken vessels, this is Fleet Admiral Saeso, captain Ishia is attempting to wrest control of the Empire from the true leaders. We have always chosen our highest leaders based on their divine height and we can not back away from that practice now. Ishia is not tall enough to give orders to our people. Do what we all know to be right, the tallest of us is in charge and it is our Irken duty to honor that." Ishia almost giggled, the simple fool had fallen for her trap so easily and now she will show him just how out classed he truly is. She composed her face again into the mask of rage and vengeance before opening the communication. Ishia "Fellow Irken Soldiers, the fleet admirals want you to follow them blindly, citing traditions that have kept us strong. But they don't want you to know the true outcome of that decision, we served the Almighty Tallest with honor and in their name came to this world to put an end to a threat that hung over our whole empire. I speak of the Traitor, Zim. The fleet admirals want you to follow the line of succession and go to the next tallest Irken, but who is the next in line?"

Ishia tapped a few controls, bringing up images from the battle between Zim and the Tallest, her computer quickly made a few calculations and displayed they for the fleet to see. Ishia "The next tallest wouldn't be one of the Fleet masters as most of you think, no the next tallest is the Traitor himself. The Fleet masters have been working for him this whole time, setting up and weakening the Almighty Tallest' Technology as to give the Traitor a chance to end their divine rule. And now they seek to submit the entire Empire to this Traitors wishes. I will not let this happen, I will act as the Vengence for out beloved leaders and purge all of these traitors from our midst then I will blast this cursed planet into a lifeless husk." With that she ended the transmission. Now the only thing to do was wait and see, her crew reported that some of the shielding on _**Weightless**_ had collapsed and that it was only a matter of time until that ship would fall before her.

POV-Saeso

He wanted to rage, to slam his fists into the walls, to grab the nearest watchman and throttle him until nobody would recognize his face. Through sheer willpower Saeso brought his temper under control. Ishia had been clever, he would give her that, but she needed to learn her place. He scanned his display as ship captains began choosing sides, he grimaced as he watched the fleet split almost neatly in two. The fighting was sporadic at first, with only a few ships with the heart to fire on their fellows but soon enough more and more ships were being caught in wide shots or collateral damage caused by their close proximity. This started a cascade as vessels opened up with abandon on the ships around them, Saeso shook his head resigning himself to the unpleasant course of action. He began sending out orders to the loyal ships, attempting to get them to work in concert, while his ship steadily accelerated away from the battle between _**Conquest**_ and _**Weightless. **_

Saeso ordered the crew of _**Burden**_ to target several of the smaller rebellious ships around it, relieving the pressure against his loyal forces in that small area and giving him a buffer of friendly ships. He could not help but smile as his sensors registered the last of_** Weightless**_' shields collapsing, Saeso mouthed a soundless goodbye to the last of his fellow admirals before setting his mind to the task of breaking that damnable Super-Battleship. More and more of his smaller vessel worked free of the surrounding battle to join his Mother Ship in a tight defensive circle, his eyes darted back to the display just in time for him to see the last moments of _**Weightless**_ as her reactor went nova. Status updates began feeding in from the fleet as more and more ships abandoned his cause, switching sides to the apparently un-stoppable _**Conquest**_.

Saeso brought his forces forward, densely packing the ships into a literal shield against _**Conquests**_ advance. His confidence began to grow as he watched the combined firepower of over four hundred ships unleash upon the single vessel. His sensors registered explosions all around _**Conquest**_ as thousands of missiles impacted, he leaned back into his seat a smile forming as he began to relax. Warning alerts flashed, snapping him back to his controls as his ships began exploding, starting in the center and working its way out a heavily concentrated wave of lasers began punching through the defenders. _**Conquest**_ surged forward through the hole she just made in his fleet, her shields were offline but her thick armor had sustained the vicious onslaught as no other ship could. Saeso slammed his fist down, rage threatening to overtake him at the futility of it all. Suddenly he calmed, remembering the one advantage his ship had against this monster.

He shouted at his crew, yelling at them to turn the ship around and bring her to maximum acceleration. As they surged to obey one of the watchmen spoke up timidly "Admiral Sir, that will put us on a collision course with _**Conquest**_." Saeso only replied with a wicked smile, he may be outgunned and out armored but he had several times the mass of that damnable ship. He vaguely registered that he could die from this but it bothered him little, as long as that bitch Ishia died too. He watched, disinterested, as the rebellious fleet began closing in all about him and the few loyal ships left. _**Conquest **_opened up with her main batteries against Burdens shields, Saeso ignored the warnings and alerts only mentioning to a nearby watchman that he might want to increase the power to the forward section. The seconds felt like hours as the ships closed at what felt like painfully slow speeds, _**Conquest**_ pouring every last ounce of firepower into the Mother ship.

Saeso shook his head and smiled, Ishia wasn't even trying to turn away, she must know its futile but doesn't want to go down without a fight. Another urgent warning appeared on Saeso's display, he went to flick it off but then caught sight of what it said. _**Conquest**_ was focusing all of her fire directly into the center of _**Burden**_, his shields there were almost gone and soon she would be blasting through hull. He screamed in rage, yelling at his bridge crew to reinforce those shields, to make sure she didn't punch through them until it was too late. Irken crew ran around frantically, doing everything in their power to accomplish Saeso's order, but it was too late. His forward shield failed with a resounding pop and _**Burden**_ began to shake all around him as _**Conquest**_ Sliced right through her. His ship coming apart around him, Saeso calmed and sat back into his chair. Tapping a few controls onto his console he brought up images of his home, scrolling through them he began to feel nostalgic. Fleet Admiral Saeso died with a smile upon his face.

POV-Ishia

Sparks flew from damage stations all over her bridge, the sensors were being overwhelmed by the vessel Burden being destroyed all around Conquest. Death filled the air and Ishia took a deep breath, holding its sweet scent inside her as long as possible before letting it out with a husky breath. She could taste blood, probably her own but she didn't care, it was glorious. Her crew began sending updates back to her, letting her know all the damage Conquest had suffered but again she cared little. She was alive and victorious, the Irken Empire was hers to direct and nobody could stand in her way. With a tremendous effort she composed herself, wiping some of the dust off of her uniform and composing her features into a look of subdued victory.

With that she called up the fleet, ordering them into position relative to Conquest so that they could begin the bombardment and devastation of this world. With that Ishia sat back, a grin promising nothing but pain plastered onto her features.

End of Chapter 13.

Notes: let me know what ya think, first time writing combat with spaceships. Granted it wasn't anything too complicated but hopefully it was an enjoyable chapter anyway. also recently someone brought up the bad formatting of some of my earlier chapters, if anyone has more suggestions or corrections feel free to let me know. i miss things and am always glad for some help ^.^


End file.
